ED 52 (Nov-Dec 2013)

NOV DEC 2013 

ISSUE 52 

A PUBLICATION BY ASME 

Desmond Ong 

To Rise Above and Beyond 

Pg 30 | Cover Story 

EYA 2013- Establishing 

Entrepreneurial Excellence 

Pg 10 | Special 

Building a Motivated Team 

Pg 14 | Commentary 

Business Property Buying 

Decisions 

Pg 38 | Property 

$6.90 (+GST) 

MICA (P) 137/09/2013 

ISSN NO 1793-0282

SPECIAL 

10 Honouring Entrepreneurial 

Excellence 

The longstanding Entrepreneur of the Year Award (EYA) celebrates its 

Silver Jubilee this year. 12 outstanding exemplars of entrepreneurial 

excellence have been unveiled, with three inaugurations in the rst-ever 

Young Entrepreneur Award Category. 

COVER STORY 

30 Desmond Ong – To Rise Above 

and Beyond 

Mr Desmond Ong, Founder and CEO of Galmon (S) Pte Ltd, talks about 

his rise from a small start-up to the market leader Galmon is today. 

C 

 

November - December 2013 

ISSUE 52 

IN THIS ISSUE 

14 Building a Motivated Team 

The staff of a company is its backbone, and having highly 

motivated teams to run your business will ensure its success 

and longevity. Find out how to effectively build up a highly 

motivated team to take your enterprise further. 

18 Pandemic Preparedness 

The threat of infectious disease and contagion has become 

an ominous specter, capable of bringing entire nations to a 

standstill. How will your business measure up against the 

pandemic? 

48 ASME Forum 2013 

The latest edition of the ASME Forum allowed SMEs to 

showcase their companies to a ready pool of enthusiastic 

ITE students. Read more about the annual event which saw 

the participation of 31 SMEs and 2000 students. 

58 Harnessing the Cloud 

Cloud computing may be readily available now but many 

SMEs have not leveraged on this potential productivityimproving 

technological solution. Find out about some of 

the benets your business can reap by harnessing cloud 

computing. 

REGULARS 

3 Message from ED 

4 News & Events 

8 Calendar of Events 

14 Commentary 

36 MoneySmart 

38 Property 

40 SME Centre @ ASME 

41 Market Intelligence 

62 Gastronomia 

64 

66 Top 5

2 


ENTREPRENEURS’ DIGEST

MESSAGE FROM 

THE EXCUTIVE 

DIRECTOR 

The Final Leg 

of the Race 

EDITORIAL TEAM 

Interim Executive Director 

Ang Yuit 

Advisor 

Thomas Fernandez 

As fast as it began, 2013 is coming to an end. 

It has been an eventful year, to say the least, with numerous issues and 

challenges faced by our local small and medium enterprises (SMEs). For 

some, it has been one trial after another with new developments in the 

business landscape landing on their laps when they are not even out of 

the woods. 

The message has been clear: Successfully adapting to new business 

realities has become a survival imperative. As daunting and somewhat 

harsh as it may sound, our local businesses have managed to pick 

themselves up, relook at their internal business processes and then 

formulate new ideas and strategies for the long run. Like our nation, the 

SMEs of Singapore have shown to be very resilient. 

We have just unveiled the Top Entrepreneurs for the 25th Entrepreneur of 

the Year Award. The oldest business Award for entrepreneurship, these 

12 outstanding individuals have showcased the very spirit and meaning of 

enterprise, surging ahead with innovative new ideas while still remaining 

true to the community. I am certain that they will go further in their industry, 

the EYA a platform to springboard their enterprises to greater heights. 

The Singapore Prestige Brand Award 2013 has also honoured the 

amazing brands that have managed to transcend all manner of business 

challenges. They are detailed in the accompanying Winners’ Special in 

this issue of the Entrepreneurs’ Digest, please take some time to look at 

some of our outstanding local brands. 

We are at the end of 2013, let us look forward to a brand new year of new 

ideas and insights! 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New! 

Yours through service, 

Ang Yuit 

Interim Executive Director 

Editor 

James Tan 

[corpcomms@asme.org.sg] 

Sub-Editors 

Justin Shen 

Eunice Choy 

Writer 

Rachelle Tan 

Advertising 

Celine Sim 

Luann Leong 

Joey Cheng 

[sales@asme.org.sg] 

Design & Printing 

SC (Sang Choy) International Pte Ltd 

Publisher 

Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) 

Contributors 

Alain Fairweather 

Robert Chew 

Edith Tay 

Jeff Hurmuses 

Jessie Quek 

Leonora Roccisano 

Stephen Ho 

Nathaniel Ong 

MayBank Singapore Great Eastern Life 

Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore 

DISCLAIMER 

The comments and views expressed in Entrepreneurs’ 

Digest do not necessarily reect the comments and views 

of the Publisher. This publication is intended to encourage, 

motivate and assist readers with regards to entrepreneurship 

and the associated. It is however, not a substitute for and 

should not be relied on as if it were professional advice on 

entrepreneurship, law, accounting or any other aspects 

of business. The Publisher expressly disclaims all liability 

for loss, damage or expense suffered or sustained by any 

person, body or corporation arising directly or indirectly from 

action as a result of the material in this publication. Any and all 

reliance on material therein shall be at the readers’ own risk. 

COPYRIGHT 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be 

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any 

form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, 

recording or otherwise without prior permission of the copyright 

owner of the Publisher © Association of Small and Medium 

Enterprises, 167 Jalan Bukit Merah Tower 4, #03-13 Singapore 

150167. Tel (65) 6513-0388 Fax: (65) 6513-0399 MICA (P) NO 

137/09/2013 ISSN: 1793-0286 Printed by SC International. 


ENTREPRENEURS’ DIGEST 

3

NEWS & EVENTS 

Considering 

Singaporeans Fairly 

The Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) is a set of 

new guidelines that encourage employers to consider 

Singaporeans fairly for jobs, based on merit. Formulated 

from feedback gathered from Singaporeans, the Ministry 

of Manpower’s (MOM) Our Singapore Conversation on 

Jobs as well as from key stakeholders and employer 

groups, the new rulings will require employers to consider 

Singaporeans fairly before hiring Employment Pass 

(EP) Holders. This is aimed at reinforcing expectations 

for employers to consider Singaporeans fairly for job 

opportunities and enhance market transparency. 

As part of the FCF, companies making new EP applications 

must advertise that job posting on a new jobs bank 

(expected to be ready by mid-2014) administered by 

the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), 

and this advertisement must be open to Singaporeans, 

comply with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment 

Practices and run for a minimum of 14 calendar days. 

The MOM will also subject rms with discriminatory HR 

practices to additional scrutiny, even curtailing their work 

pass privileges if so required. Such rms include those with 

a disproportionately low concentration of Singaporeans at 

the PME level or have had repeated complaints for their 

HR policies. 

The FCF will come into effect on 1 August 2014. E 

Workgroup to 

help SMEs 

The SME Workgroup was formed on 3 September 

2013 as a government-led committee chaired by Mr 

Teo Ser Luck, Minister of State for Trade & Industry, 

and comprising business leaders, government 

representatives and grassroots advisors. The 

Workgroup is envisaged to lead and coordinate 

efforts to assist small and medium enterprises 

(SMEs) in overcoming their restructuring and 

productivity challenges. 

The rst area the Workgroup will focus on is 

the implementation of the various SME-related 

government programmes and schemes. The 

second would be to strengthen engagement with 

the local business community and understand their 

sector-specic concerns. Lastly, the Workgroup 

will identify gaps and make recommendations 

to improve existing policies from the feedback 

gathered. 

From feedback gathered from employers early 

in October 2013, the Workgroup has found that 

manpower concerns are still on the top of the 

priority list for many SMEs, and they want more 

help to make do with lesser workers. They also 

want more assistance to boost productivity, such 

as an extension of the popular Productivity and 

Innovation Credit (PIC) Scheme to beyond 2015. 

The SME Workgroup will continue to engage 

businesses to better understand the concerns 

within the business community. E 

4 



Dedicated 

agency for 

SMEs 

Of the myriad issues raised during 

the SME Convention organised by 

the Singapore Business Federation 

(SBF) on 28 October 2013, the 

call for a dedicated agency to deal 

with SME matters was raised by 

business leaders. SME owners also 

beseeched the Government to help 

them more in stemming exorbitant 

rises in rental costs as well as 

assistance in helping SMEs expand 

overseas. 

Mr Teo Ser Luck, Minister of State 

for Trade & Industry, who was the 

guest-of-honour for the event held 

at Resorts World Sentosa, said that 

currently, there are many government 

agencies working closely to provide 

assistance to SMEs. Different 

government agencies also manage 

different assistance schemes for 

SMEs. These include SPRING 

Singapore, IE Singapore, JTC Corp 

and the Inland Revenue Authority 

of Singapore, amongst others. 

Perhaps, Mr Teo further added, a 

“more aligned and consolidated 

account management structure” 

NEWS & EVENTS 

is in order, whereby there is only 

one point of contact for the SMEs 

as compared to the multitude of 

different avenues. 

The Government will continue 

to explore which arrangement is 

more suitable for SMEs, a “work in 

progress” with regards to whether a 

new government agency dedicated 

to SMEs should be established. E 

Mobile Loyalty 

and Rewards 

The advent of social media 

and increasingly-powerful 

smartphones has ushered in a 

new age of commerce where 

purchases can be made on the 

go at any time. Consumers are 

no longer conned to physical 

brick-and-mortar establishments 

to obtain their desired goods 

and chattels; they can simply do 

so with a tap of their nger. The 

businesses of today must be 

able to leverage on this trend to 

secure greater market share on 

the information superhighway 

in order to stay competitive and 

relevant. 

The Infocomms Development 

Authority of Singapore (IDA) held 

a sharing session on 2 October 

2013 to a crowd of 85 business 

owners and key decision-makers. 

The discussions focused mainly 

on mobile rewards and loyalty, 

how businesses can rst attract 

consumers to their e-commerce 

platforms and keep them coming 

back for more through tailored 

loyalty programmes. This could 

be as simple as the accumulation 

of three virtual “vouchers” to 

redeem a freebie at the store’s 

physical outlet, or could be as 

elaborate as a credit system used 

for future spending in the online 

store. 

The online realm is a potential 

hinterland for SMEs, especially for 

new start-ups, but successfully 

capitalising on mobile 

e-commerce takes precision, 

strategy and keen acumen, just 

like a traditional business. E 



5

NEWS & EVENTS 

Improving 

Productivity with 

Technology 

Technology is constantly evolving, with new inventions 

and solutions being released on a regular basis. SMEs 

would do well to harness and capitalise on some of these 

technological innovations, but out of the myriad of cuttingedge 

business solutions, which one suits your business 

best? 

About 110 participants from 80 companies attended a 

joint seminar organised by the Association of Small and 

Medium Enterprises (ASME) with the Agency for Science, 

Technology and Research (A*STAR), and got an idea of 

the kind of technological solutions they can leverage on to 

drive their productivity levels higher. Held at the Singapore 

Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) on 27 

September 2013, the participants got to know of a selection 

of ready-to-deploy technologies offered by ve research 

institutes for a broad range of industries. These include 

manufacturing solutions, inventory management systems, 

logistics packages as well as waste management systems, 

amongst others. 

In addition to the seminar, participants got a feel of some 

of the technologies mentioned through the exhibitions onsite, 

where solutions from the ve research institutes were 

showcased. E 

First Cohort of Max Talent PMEs Graduate 

81 Professionals, Managers and 

Executives (PMEs) received their 

certicates of completion from 

Acting Minister for Manpower Mr 

Tan Chuan-Jin during the rst-ever 

Max Talent Graduation Ceremony 

held on 30 September 2013. These 

PMEs have successfully completed 

the Max Talent Programme, an 

initiative launched in April 2012 to 

assist PMEs to secure employment 

with SMEs, as well as to help SMEs 

manage their newly-hired PMEs. 

Administered by the Association 

of Small and Medium Enterprises 

(ASME) and supported by the 

Singapore Workforce Development 

Agency (WDA), more than 530 

PMEs have been successfully 

placed through the place-and-train 

programme, that number inclusive 

of 120 mature PMEs who have been 

placed in SME job positions across 

different industries. The initiative has 

been fruitful so far, with about 90 per 

cent of all PMEs placed remaining in 

their jobs. 

“Through programmes like Max 

Talent, we hope to help more SMEs 

with their recruitment process and 

human resource capabilities,” said 

Acting Minister Mr Tan during the 

Ceremony, “In doing so, it will help 

correct the misperception among our 

young graduates, or older graduates 

and PMEs that SMEs offer a less 

attractive workplace environment, 

and have limited career progression 

pathways.” 

The Max Talent Programme is slated 

to conclude in March 2014, but 

the WDA said that the programme 

is likely to be extended given the 

positive response thus far. E 

6 



Upcoming Events 

Creating an Inclusive Workplace 

Date: Friday, 29 November 2013 

Time: 

Venue: 

1.45pm to 5pm 

Tripartite Alliance for Fair 

Employment Practices 

51 Bras Basah Road 

#04-07 Manulife Centre 

Singapore 189554 

Want to know how to be an Employer of 

Choice? Attend this half-day session on 

‘Creating an Inclusive Workplace’ programme 

to learn what employees are looking out for in 

an employer today and how your organisation 

can stand out as an Employer of Choice. 

You will also be able to learn the business 

benets of adopting and implementing fair 

and inclusive practices at your workplace 

and how it will create a positive result in your 

recruitment, selection and retention strategies. 

ASME Christmas Party 2013 

Date: Wednesday, 18 December 2013 

Time: 6.30pm to 9.30pm 

Venue: Hood Bar and Cafe 

201 Victoria Street 

#05-07 Bugis+ 

Singapore 188067 

Celebrate the season of joy with the 

Association of Small and Medium Enterprises 

(ASME) this year as we bring you a night of 

fun and entertainment! 

Exciting programmes such as a mini darts 

tournament, live band performance and 

lucky draw are lined up especially for you. 

Also mingle with fellow business owners, 

indulge in our sumptuous buffet spread and 

have a go at our simulated golf machine to 

liven up a special Yuletide evening! 

Upcoming Trade Fairs 

Automechanika Shanghai 2013 

10 – 13 December 2013 

Automechanika Shanghai – the 2nd largest 

Automechanika show in the world after 

Frankfurt, will be held from 10 – 13 December 

2013 at Shanghai New International Expo 

Centre. The show which is Asia’s annual 

leading international trade fair for automotive 

parts, accessories, equipment and services, 

is jointly organised by Messe Frankfurt 

(Shanghai) Co Ltd and the China National 

Automotive Industry International Corporation 

(CNAICO). 

Last year, the show saw 4,109 exhibitors 

from 37 countries and regions and there 

were 72,190 visitors from 136 countries and 

regions. This year, there are 10 overseas 

pavilions from Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, 

Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, USA 

and UK. 

Intersec 2014 

19 – 21 January 2014 

Renowned as the region’s largest and 

most comprehensive trade and networking 

exhibition for the Security and Safety 

industries, Intersec 2014 offers a unique 

spectrum of products from the elds of 

Commercial Security, Information Security, 

Fire & Rescue, Safety & Health, Homeland 

Security and Policing. 

With around 1,000 international exhibitors 

expected, the 15th edition of Intersec is 

set to build on its reputation as the most 

signicant trading platform and networking 

event for security and safety professionals in 

the Middle East. 

8 



Understanding your 

business is our business. 

At Maybank, we support your entrepreneurial vision in uncovering fertile 

opportunities. You can leverage on our wealth of experience and expertise 

to bring your ideas to fruition and sow a golden harvest. For enquiries on 

our SME financing solutions, call 6645 3611 or 6298 2920. 

CMG036/AUG13/AD1/A 

Malayan Banking Berhad (incorporated in Malaysia) 

Humanising Financial Services Across Asia.

SPECIAL 

SPECIAL 

Establishing 

Entrepreneurial 

Excellence 

The silver jubilee 

of the annual 

Entrepreneur of 

the Year Award 

continues to 

identify and honour 

deserving business 

owners 

2013 marks the 25th anniversary of the 

Entrepreneur of the Year Award (EYA), 

the longest-established business 

accolade for entrepreneurship in 

Singapore. Jointly organised by the 

Association of Small and Medium 

Enterprises (ASME) and the Rotary 

Club of Singapore, the Award has 

recognised dozens of deserving 

entrepreneurs who have excellent 

and sustainable business practices. 

Etymology of Excellence 

“EYA rst started in 1989 by the Rotary 

Club of Singapore to recognise small- 

scale entrepreneurs and to garner 

some form of publicity for the winners 

to grow their businesses. With ASME 

coming onboard in 1992 as coorganisers, 

EYA has grown over the 

years and I’m proud to say that it is 

a highly respected accolade for our 

homegrown entrepreneurs today,” 

said Mr Stanley Low, Award Co- 

Chairman, Rotary Club of Singapore, 

during the Ofcial Launch of EYA 

2013 on 31 May 2013. 

In line with the changing times, 

EYA 2013 was opened to younger 

entrepreneurs and enterprises with 

the establishment of a new award 

category for the rst time – the 

Young Entrepreneur. Apart from the 

traditional Award category, which 

is highly recognised for identifying 

established and successful 

entrepreneurs annually, the new 

Young Entrepreneur category 

has been conceptualised to suit 

the business nature of emerging 

entrepreneurs and enterprises. 

“To allow more enterprises to be 

part of our award journey, we have 

opened EYA 2013 to companies 

with at least two years of audited 

nancial statements in our new 

Young Entrepreneur category. To 

ensure a level playing eld for this 

group of young entrepreneurs, a 

cap of S$20 million turnover will be 

imposed for this category. Those 

with a higher turnover and have more 

years of establishment will naturally 

fall in the Established Entrepreneur 

category,” said Mr Kurt Wee, Award 

Co-Chairman, Association of Small 

and Medium Enterprises (ASME). 

As Singapore enters into an intensied 

phase of economic restructuring, 

it is even more challenging for 

entrepreneurs to take their companies 

to greater heights. The judging criteria 

for EYA 2013 includes evaluating 

the entrepreneur’s relevance and 

resilience amidst existing challenges, 

and this includes assessing their 

resourcefulness, human capital and 

10 


NOV DEC 2013

SPECIAL 

productivity, innovation, as well as 

business management, development 

and strategy, etc. 

After months of grueling interviews 

and site visits to the candidates’ 

companies, 12 deserving Top 

Entrepreneurs have been unveiled. 

Exemplars of Excellence 

One of the hallmarks of the EYA 

journey is the exceedingly stringent 

and rigorous judging process. Quality 

is the name of the game, and the 

judging process – as well as the 

Award Judging Committee – really 

tests the candidates’ mental fortitude, 

professional commitment and their 

passion to the business. Further, 

the Award Judging Committee is a 

distinguished panel of remarkable 

individuals consisting of different 

business practitioners, each with 

signicant standing and repute in 

their respective industries. They 

are guided by an extensive laundry 

list of criteria and requirements for 

every possible facet of the business, 

leveraging on their own business 

experience and expertise to paint 

a comprehensive picture of the 

candidate’s journey, before nally 

awarding that crowning glory. 

What a glory it is. 

At the Ofcial Press Conference 

held on 22 October 2013, the 12 

Top Entrepreneurs received their 

certicates of achievement. Nine Top 

Entrepreneurs were crowned in the 

Established Entrepreneur Category, 

while three emerging business 

leaders become the inaugural Young 

Entrepreneurs. 

The 9 Top Entrepreneurs for the 

Established Entrepreneurs Award 

Category come from different 

industries like construction, paper 

recycling, food & beverage and 

interior furnishings & t-out, while 

the Young Entrepreneurs stem from 

digital marketing, apparel distribution 

and interior design. 

“The Award’s 25 years of history in the 

entrepreneurial community speaks 

volumes about its credibility and 

value,” commented Mr Wee during 

the Press Conference. “We still pride 

ourselves on unearthing the hidden 

entrepreneurial gems in the circuit, 

and am very heartened to note that 

many of our Top Entrepreneurs this 

year have taken innovative measures 

to better their businesses, relying on 

not just their keen business acumen 

but also on a myriad of creative 

solutions to keep their businesses 

going or take them to the next level.” 

EYA 2013 is joined by OCBC 

Bank once again, coming aboard 

as the Main Sponsor for the 12th 

consecutive year. “This is the longest- 



11

COMMENTARY 

SPECIAL 

established entrepreneurship award 

in Singapore, and we at OCBC are 

proud of our long association with this 

Award,” said Mr Linus Goh, Head of 

Global Commercial Banking, OCBC 

Bank, during the Press Conference, 

“Over these past 12 years as its 

main sponsor, we have witnessed 

the power of an award platform such 

as this, giving so many deserving 

entrepreneurs and their businesses 

the stage that they need to launch 

the next phase of their journey." 

The EYA is also proudly supported by 

Infocomms Partner Starhub, Ofcial 

Cognac Martell, Innovation Partner 

Lexus and Ofcial Media Partner 

Channel News Asia. IE Singapore 

and SPRING Singapore are also 

onboard once again as supporting 

organisations. 

All Top Entrepreneurs will undergo 

a Final Judging in November, where 

they will be assessed by a different 

panel of distinguished judges. From 

this judging session, the Overall 

Winner as well as Sub-Category 

Award Winners will be determined, 

and the results will be made known 

at The Entrepreneur of the Year 

Award Presentation Ceremony on 4 

December 2013. 

The Entrepreneurs’ Digest 

congratulates all Top Entrepreneurs 

of 2013! E 

Top Entrepreneurs of EYA 2013 

Established Entrepreneur 

Name Designation Company 

Kim Wah Boon Managing Director Dickson Auto Group 

Brian Seow Managing Director L&Rui Concept Group Pte Ltd 

Sally Chua Managing Director Q’son Kitchen Equipment Pte Ltd 

Alan Tan Managing Director Rasel Catering Singapore Pte Ltd 

Chris Loh Creative Director Rasel Catering Singapore Pte Ltd 

Winston Chia Managing Director Serrano Holdings Pte Ltd 

Albert Oon Managing Director Shun Zhou Hardware Pte Ltd 

Sun Lai Fong Chairman Sunhuan Construction Pte Ltd 

Jacueline Lim Wei Kheng Managing Director Tai Hing Private Limited 

Young Entrepreneur 

Name Designation Company 

Neeraj Sundarajoo Chief Executive Ofcer Comwerks Pte Ltd 

Patrick Goh Co-Founder Intero Enterprise Pte Ltd 

Dr Sky Tan Keang Leng Chief Executive Ofcer Sky Creation Group Of Companies 

12 



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COMMENTARY 

The importance 

of the emotional 

connection 

Do you want a team who make 

a positive contribution to your 

business? Who make customers 

want to come back? Who nd new 

customers and make more sales 

and prots? 

Of course you do, otherwise you 

would not be in business. But I 

sometimes wonder if business 

owners and managers are losing 

sight of this. You are often so 

caught up in the day to day running 

of the business, that perhaps you 

forget exactly what your business 

objectives are all about. 

The only way you are going to 

achieve more customers, more sales 

and more prots, is with a highly 

motivated and engaged team. 

And I do not just mean those people 

in sales and customer service; 

everyone has a role to play. Admin 

staff, maintenance, accounts, 

delivery people - everyone in the 

organisation. 

The big question 

The question most often asked by 

managers is – ‘How do I motivate 

my team?’ They want some instant 

x, a magic bullet that improves 

team motivation overnight. But as 

we all know, life is not like that. 

The answer is – ‘You don’t 

motivate your team, you create the 

environment where they motivate 

themselves.’ 

Effective motivation is intrinsic; it 

has to come from within. There is no 

instant x; it is an ongoing day to day 

process of small actions that build a 

highly motivated and engaged team. 

COMMENTARY 

Building a 

Motivated Team 

It is like pushing a heavy boulder, 

you need some initial effort to get the 

process going, but once you have 

done that, it takes a lot less effort to 

keep it moving. 

Two levels of communication 

Gallup denes a highly motivated 

and engaged worker as one who has 

“heightened emotional connection” 

with his or her organisation, leading to 

greater effort in getting the job done. 

The only way to develop that 

emotional connection is for the line 

manager to communicate with each 

team member on a human level as 

well as a business level. Business 

level communication is all about 

what needs to be done and who 

needs to do it. It’s about solving 

problems, and giving feedback both 

positive and not so positive. 

Personal example 

Let me give you a personal example 

of human level communication. I 

once worked for a manager who 

was excellent at this. Stuart was 

the Director of Sales and I was a 

Regional Manager with six Sales 

people reporting to me. Stuart was 

my boss, he was located about four 

hundred miles from me so I did not 

see him too often. 

However, we did have regular 

contact by phone. He would always 

14 



COMMENTARY 

open any call on the human level. 

He would come on the phone with 

something like – “Hi Alan, I trust 

you’re well.” He then might say – 

“How’s Elizabeth, did she get that 

new job she went after?” 

Stuart always seemed to remember 

these things. We would then have a 

short conversation about that, and 

then he would get down to business. 

Sometimes the business bit was not 

always something I wanted to hear. 

“Your sales gures are slipping Alan, 

what are you doing about it?” Or – 

“Your team’s reporting is not up to 

scratch; I want you to do something 

about it.” 

Stuart was no soft touch and his 

approach was never “touchy-feely”. 

However, I always felt that Stuart 

cared about me as an individual and 

I would always work well for Stuart. I 

was highly motivated and engaged! 

You have to be genuine 

Of course, this does not mean to 

that every time you speak with a 

member of your team you launch 

into some personal discussion. 

Opening on a human level can take 

only a couple of words. And before I 

give you some examples – you have 

to be genuine! 

Your team will know whether you 

mean something or not. I think most 

of us are aware of the importance 

of tone of voice and body language 

when we communicate. So if you 

say something on the human level 

to one of your team members, 

make sure you mean it or do not 

bother saying it. Just in case you are 

struggling, here are some things you 

could say. 

•“What did you think of Florida?” 

•“How did the children (and use 

their names) enjoy Disney?” 

•“I thought your team played 

really well last night.” 

•“I like that tie.” 

•“That’s a really smart suit.” 

•“You’re looking well.” 

•“I like your new glasses.” 

Bring up things you have 

remembered, “Did Dave pass his 

college exams?” or “How’s your 

husband’s (use his name) new job?” 

Many line managers avoid human 

level communication. They see it 

either as a waste of time, think it is 

all too “touch-feely”, or just do not 

know what to say. 

If you want to build a highly 

motivated team, who nd more 

customers, generate more sales and 

prots, then you need to make that 

emotional connection. E 

Alan Fairweather 

Motivation Expert & 

Associate Consultant 

d’Oz International 



15

COMMENTARY 

The ESB in particular, can be likened 

to a stepping stone for SMEs looking 

to make an IPO. The criteria and 

requirements for listing on the ESB 

are less strict – although still stringent. 

Aimed at nurturing innovative 

businesses and companies with high 

potential, the ESB helps companies 

to be familiar with the laws and 

regulations of the stock markets, 

while simultaneously raising their 

prole and helps them to raise funds 

for accelerated growth before making 

an IPO on the GSB. 

The GTSM has successfully 

assisted 1,799 enterprises since 

its establishment, including six 

Singaporean companies. 

Outreach to Overseas Companies 

COMMENTARY 

Going Public 

The Taiwan GreTai 

Securities Market 

may be a viable 

option for SMEs 

looking to fuel their 

expansion plans 

Taking a business public can be a 

daunting undertaking for local small 

and medium enterprises (SMEs), 

what with the fees involved as well as 

the massive amounts of paperwork 

needed to deliver an initial public 

offering (IPO). 

Yet, the benets and rewards from an 

IPO can be very substantial. For one, 

the SME will be able to gain access 

to capital markets to raise funds 

for development and/or expansion 

plans. The listed SME will also be 

more prominent and visible in the 

industry it operates in, attracting 

more talent and better chances of 

securing bank loans. 

When an SME has decided to list, the 

next question would be where to list? 

Into Taiwan 

The GreTai Securities Market (GTSM) 

is an exchange based in Taiwan and 

was founded in 1994. A member of 

the World Federation of Exchanges, 

GTSM offers businesses an alternative 

platform to list in Taiwan apart from 

the main Taiwan Stock Exchange. In 

terms of size and scale, the GTSM 

is comparable to Singapore Stock 

Exchange’s Catalist board, and it 

offers two separate boards to list. 

The General Stock Board (GSB) is 

the main board of the GTSM, similar 

to the main boards of other stock 

exchanges. In addition, the GTSM 

offered the Emerging Stock Board 

(ESB) in 2002, a safe, convenient 

and legal market for trading unlisted 

stocks. Companies regardless of size 

and/or industry will be able to access 

the capital markets required to further 

their business through both boards of 

the GTSM. 

The GTSM, in collaboration with the 


Enterprises (ASME), The Bosses’ 

Network and the Singapore Food 

Manufacturers’ Association (SFMA) 

and the Taipei Representative Ofce 

in Singapore, organised a half-day 

brieng seminar 30 October 2013 on 

the benets of listing on the GTSM. 

In his opening remarks for the 

Seminar, Mr Chan Chong Beng, 

President of the ASME, said that 

although listing on any stock market 

may sit very far back on any SME’s 

mind, the GTSM is an “alternative 

source to raise funds be it for 

expansion to regional markets or 

research and development of new 

product ranges.” He also cautioned 

that the pros and the cons of listing 

for each company will be unique and 

these factors need to be carefully 

considered before embarking on the 

endeavour. 

Around 200 SME owners, 

representatives and key decisionmakers 

attended the seminar held 

at the Ritz-Carlton, and got to know 

rsthand some of the benets for 

listing on the GTSM. An experiencesharing 

session by GTSM-listed 

local companies was also held to 

help participants better understand 

the intricacies of listing in a foreign 

16 



COMMENTARY 

market. These include furniture 

manufacturer Scanteak, interior 

ttings maker Redwood Group, 

heavy equipment leaser and seller JP 

Nelson Holdings, as well as traditional 

Chinese medicine provider Ma Kuang 

Healthcare Group. 

Important Features of the GTSM 

One of the key differences of the 

GTSM as compared to other stock 

exchanges is the allowing of overthe-counter 

trading. This refers to the 

trading of nancial instruments such 

as debt securities, bonds and stocks 

directly between two parties and not 

through a centralised exchange. 

Another feature of the GTSM is 

the proliferation of SMEs within its 

listed companies. Typically, nancial 

institutions and funds dominate a 

stock exchange. However, 70 per 

cent of the traders on the GTSM are 

retail investors and the majority of the 

646 companies listed on the GTSM 

are SMEs. A sizeable portion of 

these companies also belong to the 

innovation and technology eld. 

The GTSM tries its best to provide 

the most professional listing service 

with as little hassle as possible. It 

promises easy and fast listing, with 

a turnaround time of three to ve 

working days and companies can 

choose to submit their applications 

via three methods: soft copy, hard 

copy or online. GTSM also provides 

companies with a concise to-do list 

before and after listing, ensuring that 

all specications and requirements are 

met. There is also a specialised and 

dedicated bond market information 

website containing consolidated 

information and data in accordance 

to the equity market, in addition 

to training courses conducted 

periodically on raising funds through 

the corporate bond market. 

Foreign companies will need a 

longer time to prepare for a listing 

on the GTSM, and they have to plan 

accordingly and make the necessary 

adjustments. The GTSM lists the 

following reminders for foreign 

companies looking to list: 

1. Source for a suitable candidate 

to assume the responsibilities for 

the company’s litigious and nonlitigious 

representation. 

2. Source for suitable candidates 

to assume the roles of 

spokesperson and deputy 

spokesperson, recommended to 

be procient in Chinese. 

3. Make the necessary adjustments 

and changes in manpower, 

especially in the nance and 

accounting departments, for 

the issuing of quarterly nancial 

reports each year. 

4. Apply for a listing using the 

electronic document exchange 

system to ensure effective and 

timely submission and receipt of 

ofcial documents. 

To nd out more about the GTSM 

and how it can help your business, 

visit http://www.gretai.org.tw E 



17

COMMENTARY 

COMMENTARY 

Pandemic 

Preparedness 

Is your business 

protected against 

disease? 

How prepared is your business for 

pandemic outbreaks? 

That is the question asked during the 

National Security Conference 2013, 

organised by the Singapore Business 

Federation (SBF) on 25 October 2013. 

Against the backdrop of the Severe 

Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) 

epidemic that paralyzed the nation in 

2003 and the more recent outbreak 

of the MERS virus in the Middle East 

last year, infectious diseases have 

far-reaching consequences on not 

just the general public but also on 

businesses as well. 

The annual National Security 

Conference this year aims to raise 

awareness on the enduring severity 

of the pandemic threat, a timely 

reminder ten years after the SARS 

outbreak. Businesses must be able 

to account not just for the inevitable 

manpower shortfall during times 

of crisis, but must also have a 

framework in place to bolster their 

business processes in response to 

the swift changes brought on by any 

contagion. 

“Complacency or failure to plan 

for such contingencies can have 

substantial business impact,” said 

Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for 

Health, during the Conference, “The 

World Bank estimated that a severe 

inuenza pandemic could cost up to 

$3 trillion and result in a nearly 5 per 

cent drop in world GDP.” When SARS 

struck Singapore in 2003, visitors fell 

an appalling 67 per cent in a month 

and hotel occupancy rates drastically 

dropped from 75 per cent to only 20 

per cent. 

“There is a clear need for business 

and nancial services to be prepared 

for such crises to mitigate the impact 

on their operations,” Mr Gan added. 

In a panel discussion themed 

“Unmasking the Pandemic Threats”, 

several topics and issues on 

measures to mitigate damage from 

pandemic threats were raised. The 

panel was composed of academia, 

Government representatives and 

business leaders, many of whom lent 

credence to the topic using anecdotal 

evidence. 

However, the crucial message 

from the panel discussion can be 

summed up in a single word: when. 

Pandemic response is no longer a 

question of ‘if’, but rather a question 

of ‘when’ - when will the next SARS, 

H1N1 or MERS hit? When it nally 

arrives, are your business continuity 

management programmes adequate 

enough to tide through the crisis? 

And for businesses without any 

concrete measures in place to 

confront the very-real specter of the 

pandemic threat, when will your luck 

run out? E 

18 



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COMMENTARY 

COMMENTARY 

The Elusive Rabbit of Work Happiness 

A JobsCentral survey reports 

low employee happiness 

levels for the 5th year 

It seems that work happiness continues to elude 

many Singaporeans, according to the JobsCentral 

2013 Work Happiness Indicator Survey conducted 

in the middle of the year. The report shows that 

Singaporean workers have displayed consistently low 

levels of overall work happiness for half a decade since 

2009, a year that was tough for many Singaporeans 

due to the recession. In fact, Singaporeans now are only 

a little bit happier than in 2009, with the overall Work 

Happiness rating for 2013 standing at 57.9 points, as 

compared to the 56.4 points in 2009. 

“The workplace environment in Singapore is a tough and 

demanding one. On one hand, employers face challenges 

such as business growth and protability amidst a 

background of rising costs and human resources crunch. 

This often leads to higher productivity expectations of 

their employees. On the other hand, employees feel the 

pressure to make more money and move up the career 

ladder in order to meet their aspirations and nancial 

commitments,” says Mr Lim Der Shing, Chief Executive 

Ofcer of JobsCentral Group. 

On the topic of constantly low happiness scores, Mr Lim 

adds, “Unfortunately, for work happiness levels to hover 

within the same unhealthy range for ve years, it is clear 

that there is a mismatch between what employees want 

and what jobs are able to provide. This is a worrying 

trend, as a marginally happy workforce would have 

repercussions on work productivity, innovation and 

Singapore’s economic growth in the longer term.” 

In addition to the overall work happiness ratings, the 

survey also uncovered other interesting ndings: 

20 



COMMENTARY 

Workers approaching retirement age are 

unhappiest 

Singaporean workers seem to be most miserable at work when they are 

between 51 to 60 years old, scoring the lowest of 55.5 in their overall 

happiness rating. This is a 12 per cent drop in that gure for the 51 to 60 

years old demographic since 2009. However, those aged 61 years and 

above are the happiest, scoring 69.8 points. 

Money is king but Millennials also value 

‘Advancement Opportunities’, while Generation X 

wants ‘Work-life Balance’ 

It is the truth: Singaporean workers want money. Across all age groups, 

survey respondents agree that ‘Salary’ is the most important aspect of a 

job. Nevertheless, the Generation group voted ‘Work-life balance’ as 

the second most important aspect of a job, while the Millennials (29 years 

old and below) ranked ‘Better Advancement Opportunities’ as the second 

most important aspect instead. 

Salary and career advancement are most 

important but cause the most dissatisfaction 

Even if salary and career advancement are highly-ranked by Singaporean 

workers, these aspects are unfortunately also the ones that they are most 

dissatised with. These may be the underlying reasons for the Singaporean 

workers’ dismal scores. As the cost of living rises in Singapore, workers 

feel the pressure to make more money to maintain their aspirations and 

way of life. 

$10,000 monthly salary is the ‘magic’ mark 

Employees earning $10,000 and above each month are very happy, and 

they have one of the highest increases in work happiness compared to 

2009. In contrast, those who earn $5,000 - $5,999 monthly have the 

greatest decline in happiness levels. 

Lawyers are unhappy at work 

Even though lawyers tend to command a higher average salary than 

the average Singaporean worker, employees in Legal job functions have 

shown the largest decline in happiness, with a 6 per cent decrease in 

overall work happiness in 2013 compared to 2009. They are also among 

the least happy groups of workers, alongside Supply Chain/Distribution 

and Merchandising workers. 

More than 3500 Singaporean workers participated in the JobsCentral 

online survey this year, which ran from 22 May 2013 to 23 June 2013. E 



21

COMMENTARY 

COMMENTARY 

The Importance 

of Branding 

Familiar and wellknown 

local brands 

walked away with 

the biggest hauls 

during the Award 

Presentation 

Ceremony of the 

Singapore Prestige 

Brand Award 2013 

Branding has truly become an 

integral part of doing business, 

the tool many enterprises use to 

successfully differentiate their own 

products and services from their 

competitors. It takes time and 

painstaking effort to cultivate and 

build up a truly prosperous brand, 

like how Switzerland nurtured 

their own “Swiss-made” branding 

over decades and even centuries, 

now commanding a premium 

and comfortable market share in 

international arenas, as described 

by Mr S Iswaran, Minister, Prime 

Minister’s Ofce, Second Minister for 

Trade & Industry, Second Minister for 

Home Affairs. 

Mr Iswaran was speaking at the 

Award Presentation Ceremony of the 

Singapore Prestige Brand Awards 

2013 (SPBA 2013) on 4 October 

2013, and he also highlighted that 

Singapore too has been able to 

establish itself as a strong brand 

despite its relative infancy, “Over the 

years, we have earned a reputation for 

trust and quality, and as a key trading 

partner in Asian and global markets. 

This positive brand association puts 

Singapore-based companies in good 

stead when they venture abroad to 

seek new opportunities and strike 

business deals with willing overseas 

partners.” 

Mr Iswaran was the guest-of-honour 

for the glamorous Award Presentation 

Ceremony of the annual branding 

accolade jointly organised by the 


Enterprises (ASME) and Chinese daily 

Lianhe Zaobao. The evening saw 

all 43 deserving Winners receiving 

trophies of their achievements from 

Mr Iswaran, and also unveiled the 

coveted Overall Winners and Most 

Popular Brand Winners for four of the 

Award Categories. 

Interior furnishings rm Scanteak 

was the biggest winner that evening, 

bagging both the Overall Winner 

and Most Popular Brand Winner 

for the Regional Brands Award 

Category. Scanteak had previously 

won accolades in previous iterations 

of the SPBA, namely SPBA 2003, 

SPBA 2004, SPBA 2005 as well as 

SPBA 2006, and these two additional 

honors in SPBA 2013 is a testament 

to the ongoing and continuous nature 

of branding. 

Neo Garden Catering was also 

another big winner, clinching the 

22 



COMMENTARY 

Overall Winner for the Established 

Brands Award Category for the 

second consecutive year, marking its 

entry into the elite SPBA Hall of Fame, 

a stellar amalgamation of popular 

brands who have consistently 

excelled. 

“In a world where there are 

unprecedented changes in 

technology and consumer macro 

trends, branding is a continuous 

journey centered on managing all 

the customer touch points with 

your organisation. This year’s SPBA 

winners have proven that they not only 

value branding as a huge intangible 

asset, but they’ve also continued to 

ride with the tide and shine in their 

business endeavours,” said Mr Goh 

Sin Teck, Editor of Lianhe Zaobao. 

The Overall Winners were selected 

after an intense round of Final 

Judging from a panel composed of 

distinguished individuals from the 

public and private sectors as well 

as academia. On the other hand, 

the Most Popular Brand Winners 

were selected from public voting, 

as members of the public voted for 

their favourite brands from 19 August 

2013 to 19 September 2013. The 

Ceremony also saw the induction of 

three brands into the SPBA Hall of 

Fame. 

“Branding is no longer just secondary 

to marketing efforts; it is an afrmation 

of the company’s drive and passion 

to succeed in an increasinglycluttered 

business sphere,” said 

Mr Chan Chong Beng, President of 

the ASME, “The SPBA has honored 

many homegrown brands that have 

built powerful, successful brands 

and recognised brands as they grow 

through the cycles, from promising 

new companies, to established 

‘grown-up’ ones that go regional.” 

The SPBA 2013 is into its 12th year of 

recognising and honouring deserving 

brands for their achievements in this 

business function. Supported by IE 



23

COMMENTARY 

Singapore, SPRING Singapore and IPOS, the SPBA is joined 

this year by nancial institution Maybank, who is onboard as 

the Award’s Ofcial Bank, a rst for the bank. Congratulating 

all Winners that evening, Mr Lee Hong Khim, Head of Global 

Banking, Maybank Singapore is condent that many more 

brands will come forward to elevate their brands through the 

SPBA platform. 

“The battle among companies for customers intensies day 

by day. The branding efforts of these companies show that 

they not only have invested in building their brand, but made a 

commitment to deliver on their brand promise to consumers. 

Naturally, these successes did not come overnight and I 

congratulate the winners on their efforts. I believe that their 

successes are a great inspiration for all local companies and 

that is why Maybank has chosen to be a sponsor for this event 

to celebrate their achievements. I look forward to seeing many 

other great brands emerge through this platform,” Mr Lim 

added. 

The Entrepreneurs’ Digest congratulates all SPBA 2013 

Winners on their deserving accolades! E 

SPBA 2013 Overall Winners 

Overall Winner for SPBA - Promising Brands 

MONEYMAX FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD 

Overall Winner for SPBA - Established Brands 

NEO GARDEN CATERING PTE LTD 

Overall Winner for SPBA - Heritage Brands 

CYCLECT 

Overall Winner for SPBA - Regional Brands 

SCANTEAK 

SPBA 2013 – Most Popular Brand Winners 

SPBA - Most Popular Promising Brand 

UNISOY 

SPBA - Most Popular Established Brand 

WAN YANG 

SPBA - Most Popular Heritage Brand 

GAO JI FOOD (S) PTE LTD 

SPBA - Most Popular Regional Brand 

SCANTEAK 

SPBA Hall of Fame Inductees 

JASON PARQUET 

NEO GARDEN CATERING 

WAN YANG 

24 



COMMENTARY 

COMMENTARY 

Local CFOs still 

buoyant on 

economic outlook 

 

 

 

 

Finance executives in Singapore 

continue to remain optimistic and 

positive about the economic outlook, 

although they will keep a watchful 

eye over business performance. This 

nding, amongst others, was released 

in the recent American Express 

Business Momentum Survey 2013, 

which polled 101 business executives 

in Singapore. 

The report paints a relatively benign 

picture of the local economy, 

with slightly more than half of the 

respondents (53 per cent) reported 

that they expected modest to 

substantial economic expansion in 

the coming year. 42 per cent of the 

respondents also expected their 

company’s business performance 

to improve, with the remainder 

forecasting the status quo to remain 

as it is (42 per cent) or a drop in overall 

performance (15 per cent). 

Although the outlook can be 

considered as rosy, businesses 

underscored several key areas that are 

challenges to further growth. These 

include industry competition, currency 

volatility, labour costs and improving 

current products and services. A 

number of nance executives also 

cited emerging markets as important 

drivers for growth. This is particularly 

important within Asia, as the top 

ve emerging markets for CFOs in 

Singapore are in this region: Indonesia 

(40 per cent), Vietnam (25 per cent), 

China (24 per cent), Malaysia (24 per 

cent) and India (16 per cent). 

“With companies here so reliant on 

emerging markets for growth due 

to our proximity to these booming 

economies, it is important for CFOs 

to gain a thorough understanding of 

the business environment and cultural 

norms of doing business abroad, and 

to be aware of the potential pitfalls, so 

that they can maximise opportunities 

to steer their companies forward to 

bolster and sustain growth,” said Ms 

Melanie Cochrane, American Express 

Senior Vice President of Global 

Corporate Payments, for the Asia- 

Pacic region. 

As the local manpower crunch 

persists, local respondents expect an 

increase in labour cost in the coming 

months, driven by the need to retain 

talent (88 per cent), support company 

expansion (53 per cent) and meet 

regulatory requirements like foreign 

wage levies (38 per cent). A number 

of CFOs also said that they would look 

to retaining their best talent by offering 

better training opportunities to existing 

employees, enhancing employment 

schemes and exploring automation 

solutions. E 

26 



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COMMENTARY 

COMMENTARY 

How to be a more innovative 

and competitive SME 

The 3rd ASME Business Symposium exposed participants to 

a wide-range of business subjects that can help them become 

more competitive and innovative 

ingapore remains a 

S 

strategic and attractive 

location for doing 

business. The World 

Bank has ranked Singapore as the 

best place to do business for the 8th 

year running, and substantial support 

is rendered by the government 

through the EnterpriseOne network 

for businessmen looking to improve 

or bolster their enterprises. Despite 

that, SME owners should not rest on 

their laurels, as the global economic 

climate is still volatile with sweeping 

developments such as the recent 

US-government gridlock, the longstanding 

EuroZone crisis as well as the 

outcome of “Abenomics” for Japan. 

To better equip SMEs to deal with 

the dynamic nature of business, the 

ASME Business Symposium 2013 

focused on imparting knowledge to 

help SMEs become more competitive 

and innovative. The full-day event 

was held on 17 October 2013, and 

saw the support of main sponsor 

Visa and SingTel, platinum sponsors 

the National University of Singapore- 

Institute of Systems Science and 

PayrollServe as well as gold sponsors 

Far East Organisation and Rapid 

E-Suite. In addition, the Ministry of 

Manpower (MOM), the Accounting 

and Corporate Regulatory Authority 

(ACRA), the Agency for Science, 

Technology and Research (A*Star), 

the Central Provident Fund Board 

(CPF), the Intellectual Property 

Ofce of Singapore (IPOS), the SME 

Centre@ASME and the Singapore 

Workforce Development Agency 

(WDA) were the Symposium’s 

supporting partners. 

“Singapore, although small, is 

not immune to the effects of the 

international arena, and our local 

businesses must be resilient enough 

to weather any global storms,” 

stressed Mr Chan Chong Beng, 

President of the ASME during his 

welcome address to the participants 

of the Symposium. 

In line with the emphasis on the twin 

pillars of fostering innovation and 

competitiveness, the Symposium 

featured the following topics: 

•HR Strategies for SMEs in 

today’s Talent-Scarce and 

Highly Mobile Environment 

Mr Tay Thain Lin, Director, 

PayrollServe 

•How can social media grow 

your business and how to get 

started? 

Mr Yu Chen Kuang, Lecturer 

and Consultant, Process 

Innovation Practice, NUS-ISS 

28 



COMMENTARY 

•Key things to note when doing 

XBRL Filing 

Mr Lin Weiting, Senior Analyst, 

Financial Information Division, 

ACRA 

•Boosting Productivity through 

ICT Solutions 

Ms Susan Loh, Associate 

Director, Business Sales, Group 

Enterprise, SingTel 

•Enabling Payments Across 

Borders 

Mr Pankaj Sharma, Senior 

Business Leader, Digital Money 

Transfer and Personal Payments, 

VISA 

•Intellectual Property 

Management Programmes 

and Strategies for SMEs 

Mr Joel Ng, Deputy Director, 

Enterprise Development Division, 

IPOS 

•Government Assistance 

Schemes 

Mr Shawn Phua, Senior Business 

Advisor, SME Centre@ASME 

•Understanding Workright 

Initiative 

Mr Edwin Sim, Assistant Director, 

Income Security Policy Division, 

MOM 

All of the speakers have substantial 

knowledge and expertise in their 

chosen topic or subject, and did their 

best to impart as much information as 

they could during their presentations. 

They used anecdotes, clear examples 

and simple language to convey their 

points of interest to the participants. 

The Symposium also featured a brief 

panel discussion at the end of the 

programme, where a representative 

from MOM and CPF took the stage 

to answer any queries the audience 

had with regards to the Workright 

Initiative. 

For the uninitiated, Workright is 

essentially a programme aimed 

to ensure that employees enjoy 

their entitled employment rights 

under the Employment Act and 

that the employers comply to said 

Employment Act. Comprised of 

mostly employers, some of the 

questions elded by the audience 

during the panel discussion were on 

the accordance of leave to workers, 

and how should overtime pay be 

calculated for part-time or temporary 

staff to maintain compliance with the 

Act. Whilst specic and catered to 

their own companies’ situation, the 

panelists did their utmost to answer 

all queries, referring participants to 

alternative sources of information 

when the need arose. 

At the end of the day, the 180 

participants of the ASME Business 

Symposium 2013 went home with 

fresh insights, new perspectives 

and relevant knowledge for them to 

become more innovative and more 

competitive enterprises. The business 

climate might be challenging for the 

months ahead, but SMEs are also 

toughening themselves to brace for 

whatever change that may come 

their way. 

Such is the spirit of enterprise. E 



29

COVER STORY 

COVER STORY 

To rise above 

and beyond 

Mr Desmond Ong, 

CEO of Galmon (S) 

Pte Ltd, details his 

rise from start-up to 

market leader 

he distinctive orange 

T 

and beige of Galmon 

mobile elevated work 

platforms (MEWPs) are 

commonplace in construction sites 

and other event venues in Singapore. 

From lling a market niche to today’s 

market leader, Mr Desmond Ong’s 

entrepreneurial journey parallels the 

function of his machines. 

In the Beginning 

After working in the family business 

for a while after graduation, Mr Ong 

saw a critical business opportunity 

in MEWPs. What started out as an 

entrepreneurial foray turned out to 

be a successful decision by Mr Ong, 

establishing Galmon in 1982. 

“The name Galmon was chosen 

because I wanted something that 

was easy to remember,” said Mr 

Ong, “Galmon could be adopted 

easily and pronounced accurately in 

many countries.” 

From a small start-up of four staff 

in 1982, Mr Ong has steadily built 

Galmon over the years. It has grown 

from strength to strength and is now 

a dominant player in the market, with 

a staff strength of 200 employees 

and a eet of 2800 MEWPs that 

includes scissors lifts, self-propelled 

booms and truck mounted 

work platforms. 

However, when he rst established 

the business, MEWPs were not used 

in Singapore. 

“The challenge was to convince 

people of the product’s advantages, 

its cost effectiveness and so forth,” 

Mr Ong described, “We faced a lot of 

resistance as the product has not yet 

been used in Singapore at that time.” 

Knowledge about such machines 

was also scarce at best and potential 

users often looked for cheaper 

alternatives. He tried very hard to 

market his machines to any industry 

that could nd use for them, not 

merely conned to the construction 

sector. It took Mr Ong ve years 

to educate the market about the 

benets of using his machines, 

providing on-site demonstrations as 

well as free trials. 

30 



COVER STORY 

Safety is the most 

important value we want 

to give to our clients. 

Three decades on, Mr Ong’s 

machines are used by a variety of 

industries including construction, 

marine and horticulture, just to name a 

few. His distinctive orange-and-beige 

machines can be seen undertaking 

tasks on the highways, major 

construction sites and project zones, 

more recently during the annual 

Singapore Grand Prix 2013. The uses 

for his machines have expanded and 

intensied, but Mr Ong’s focus has 

always been on MEWPs, embodied 

in Galmon’s brand vision to be the 

choice global provider for such aerial 

work platforms. 

A Culture of Safety 

Galmon’s machines provide its users 

with a variety of uses, but to Mr 

Ong, the most important aspect of 

his machines is safety. “Safety is the 

most important value we want to give 

to our clients,” emphasised Mr Ong. 

This onus on safety runs deep 

throughout Galmon, from the staff to 

the processes and to the machines. 

Mr Ong is grateful for his staff, all of 

whom work together as a cohesive 

unit and take great pride in their job 

responsibilities. His staff, regardless 

of department, must feel proud of 

their own work. As a result, this 

creates a cascading effect: the staff 

ensure that their machines are up to 

scratch before each tasking, and this 

is clearly exhibited in the quality of the 

machines going out for tasks. 

Mr Ong places strict emphasis on 

checking all machines when they 

return from a job: they have to be 

perfect before their next tasking. This 

business philosophy has paid off 

handsomely: for the past 32 years 

and counting, Galmon has not had 

a single industrial accident involving 

its machines. This is a remarkable 

achievement in light of the recent 

spate of industrial accidents. 

Another facet of his tenet on safety 

is training. The machines may be in 

tiptop condition, but the users have 

to be adequately procient in their 

operation as well. Mr Ong ensures 

that all operators of his machines 

are well-trained before being allowed 

to use them. To this end, Galmon is 

a Ministry of Manpower-approved 

training provider of MEWPs, and a 

Training Academy slated to open by 

the end of this year will provide even 

more holistic and conducive training 

for MEWP operators. 

Above and Beyond 

Mr Ong’s passion for his business still 

burns strong, “I like this business, I 

feel comfortable doing my job, and 

this is what keeps me coming back 

to the ofce every day.” With a lasting 

passion for the business coupled 

with the crucial eye on safety, Mr Ong 

will continue to bring Galmon above 

and beyond. E 



31

HR & Payroll Alert 

PayDay! SaaS Enables Cost-effective Compliance with 

Itemised Payslips Ahead of Legislative Changes 

Singapore – 09 Sep 2013 – PayDay! 

 

based payroll solution, offers 

business owners the assurance of 

compliance even before upcoming 

changes in Singapore’s legislation 

take effect. Among these is the 

requirement that all employers must 

provide employees with itemised 

payslips so that they can check if 

incoming payments are correctly 

processed each month. 

PayDay! SaaS allows business 

owners to deliver itemised payslips 

directly to their employees through 

smartphones via free PayDay! 

 

immediately from the Apple and 

 

browser. 

After employees log in to their 

PayDay! SaaS online account, they 

have the choice of viewing any of 

 

including the latest. In addition to 

viewing the itemised payslips online, 

employees may also download them 

for printing and recording purposes. 

PayDay! SaaS also addresses the 

 

owners that the requirement for 

itemised payslips will increase costs 

and manpower requirements. 

“PayDay! SaaS is the most basic 

payroll processing tool every 

employer should have. It processes 

monthly payroll, comes with 

payslips and prepares the necessary 

reports for submission. And the price 

is as low as S$5 per employee per 

process,” said Olivia Yeoh, Director 

of PayrollServe. 

 

“Moreover, it is important for every 

employee to understand the details 

and figures in the payslip because this 

is the only way to be certain that he or 

she is getting paid correctly. If there 

are any mistakes, one can easily spot 

them when the pay items are listed 

down.” 

Beyond providing itemised payslips, 

PayDay! SaaS automatically rolls out 

regulatory updates to ensure that 

businesses are in full compliance 

with all applicable laws to avoid 

penalties. It also guarantees 

information security for both 

employers and employees through a 

range of measures, such as 

being hosted at PayrollServe’s 

 

 

encryption technology. 

 

immediately at www.PayDay.com.sg. 

Furthermore, PayDay! SaaS comes 

with comprehensive online FAQs 

 

customer service via phone, email or 

 

Friday, 9am to 5pm. 

“ 

Manual payroll is error-prone. 

PayDay! keeps us on track with 

payroll legislations. 

Nah Wee Yang, 

Project Management Professional 

Systemethod IT Consulting 

Website: www.PayDay.com.sg 

info@payday.com.sg 

 

Ms Olivia Yeoh, Director 

 

oliviayeoh@payrollserve.com.sg 

PayrollServe is the Payroll and HR 

Administration Services division of 

the Chio Lim Stone Forest group, a 

leading accounting and business 

advisory group that focuses on 

growing businesses. 

PayrollServe is supported by a team 

of more than 700 professionals in 

 

specialising in Payroll, HR, Corporate 

Secretarial, Accounting, Taxation 

and Management Information 

Systems.

® 

Software as a Service (SaaS) 

The Perfect Payroll Solution 

for Small Businesses 

“Manual payroll is tedious. 

PayDay! gives me more time 

to focus on my business.” 

Sophie Shieh, 

Discovery Garden Childcare Centre 

Sophie Shieh, 

Discovery Garden Childcare Centre 

Never worry about fines. Ever. 

Avoid paying hefty fines. Stay 100% 

compliant without worrying about wrong 

payroll deduction of CPF, SDL, Income Tax, 

etc. Regulatory updates are rolled out 

automatically behind the scenes. 

Never have to fiddle with messy software 

downloads and complicated installation 

processes. 

No payroll knowledge is required. 

PayDay! is designed for business owners 

with little or no technical payroll 

knowledge. Let PayDay! handle the nuts and 

bolts of processing your payroll, while you 

focus on running the business. 

Best security for your data. 

We have taken all reasonable and 

commercially available measures to ensure 

PayDay! provides the best security for your 

data. 

 

 

It’s affordable. 

Manage your company’s payroll for S$5 

per employee per process. No purchase of 

special software needed. 

No more lock-in periods. 

Try it for free. No sign up fee. No hidden 

 

you pay for only the number of employees 

on your payroll each month. 

Itemized Payslips through 

Web Browser or Mobile Apps

COVER FEATURE 

COVER FEATURE 

The Safest Way to the Top 

The hallmark of 

market leader 

Galmon (S) Pte Ltd 

is quality without 

compromising on 

safety 

almon (S) Pte Ltd, a 

G 

local based company 

that was established in 

1982 to pioneer the use 

of Mobile Elevated Work Platforms 

(MEWPs) in Asia. These are 

machines / equipment: ranging from 

self-propelled boom-lifts, scissorlifts, 

truck-mounted work platforms, 

telehandlers, aluminum mobile 

scaffolding and to special custombuilt 

lifts. 

The company specialises in rental, 

sales, servicing and training for the 

widest range of MEWPs to countries 

including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, 

Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, 

Vietnam, Philippines, India and China. 

With the philosophy of providing 

products and services of superior 

quality & safety; Galmon has been 

committed to delivering reliable, 

efcient and safe machinery and 

excellent customer services to clients 

of all industries the last 31 years. 

With equipment safety as top priority, 

Galmon’s tagline of “YOUR SAFEST 

WAY TO THE TOP!” is testimonial of 

their core values. 

Already an ISO: 9001-certied 

company since 1996 , this 200-staff 

strong outt has grown leaps and 

bounds with a eet of more than 

2800 machines and equipment. They 

have established themselves as a 

market leader in their industry. 

With greater demands and 

requirements from various industries, 

for safe working at height equipment, 

this company has become the ‘go 

to’ source for safe and reliable work 

at height platforms and equipment. 

They have also achieved a number of 

milestones and accreditation: 

•bizSAFE Partner (a Singapore 

Government programme 

that advocates safety in 

the workplace in light of 

occupational health and safety 

issues) certication. 

•International Powered Access 

Federation (IPAF) certication 

•OHSAS 18001 

•WSH (Work Safe at Height) 

Advocate 

•Ministry of Manpower 

Accredited Training Provider 

(ATP) for full range of MEWP’s 

•Winner of Singapore Prestige 

Brand Award (SPBA) 2011- 

established Brand Category 

Many industries such as construction, 

aviation, marine/shipping, petrol 

chemical, building maintenance and 

horticulture- are ever reliant on the 

company’s quality machines and 

exceptional services & support as 

well as their certication with the 

government and other recognised 

bodies in the industry. 

Some notable customers and 

partners are: 

•Singapore Technologies (ST) 

•Singapore Airlines (SIA) 

•National Parks (NParks) 

•Civil Aviation Authority of 

Singapore (CAAS) 

34 



COVER FEATURE STORY 

•Changi Airport Group (CAG) 

•Port Authority of Singapore 

(PSA) 

•Media Corp TV Singapore Pte 

Ltd 

•Sembcorp Design & 

Construction Pte Ltd 

•QMT Industrial & Safety Pte Ltd 

•Boustead Singapore Limited 

In addition to maintaining the safety 

of their machines, Galmon constantly 

upgrades and maintains its eet, 

incorporating advanced features, 

application functions and safety 

requirements in line with the 

dynamic and ever-changing 

demands of the industries 

they caters to. 

With the rising demand of 

usage of boom- lifts and 

scissorlifts in the industry, 

the Ministry of Manpower 

(MOM) has regulated all 

operators of these platforms 

to be trained and certied 

from September 2012. To 

cater to this rising demand, 

as a MOM Accredited 

Training Provider, Galmon 

has established a thorough 

training & certication course 

for certication. 

The main courses are- 

•Boom Lift Operator Training 

Course (BLOC)- English Or 

Chinese 

•Scissor Lift Operator Training 

Course (SLOC) – English Or 

Chinese 

•Vertical Lift Operator Training 

Course (VLOC) – English & 

Chinese 

•Familiarization Training Course – 

English or Chinese 

•Refresher Course- English or 

Chinese 

•Working at Height Course 

(Foundation) – English or 

Chinese 

•Working at Height Course 

(Supervisory)- English or 

Chinese 

They have also started work on 

their new Training Academy to 

provide a more professional and 

established training environment for 

new operators which will be ready in 

early 2014. E 



35

MONEYSMART 

MONEYSMART 

Keeping 

track of your 

 

How SMEs can 

leverage on Cash 

Management 

Solutions to 

improve processes 

Financial Management 

As your business grows, a time will 

come when you will need a much 

more efcient and effective way of 

getting information on your company's 

nancial overview and of managing 

your total portfolio with your bank. 

Most banks would provide their Cash 

Management Solutions (or CMS in 

short) as a value-added service to 

their corporate clients of medium to 

MNC level. 

Essentially, the CMS would 

consolidate your entire portfolio with 

your bank, from deposits to loans, 

investments and more, to give you a 

much more holistic view and complete 

knowledge of your liquidity and 

accounting position to help you make 

strategic decisions for your business. 

Through this web-based platform you 

can access real-time information of 

your account activities, balances and 

statements, 24 hours a day, seven 

days a week from wherever you are. 

CMS often comes with comprehensive 

reporting capabilities and may even 

provide you with multi-bank reporting. 

It becomes an even more powerful 

tool when directly interfaced with 

compatible accounting systems. 

You can also generate quick ratios 

like working capital ratio to help you 

determine current and future cash ow 

requirements and potential shortfalls. 

Cash Flow and Fund 

Management 

A powerful cash ow tool, CMS can 

automatically minimise your borrowing 

requirements for working capital, 

idle balances, smooth decits and 

surplus cash positions between bank 

accounts. 

Sweeping away idle cash 

Funds may be swept into a 

concentration account to minimise 

idle cash balances, or cash balances 

may be automatically moved into an 

interest-earning money market fund 

according to the pre-set parameters 

for higher returns 

Placement for better yield 

Idle funds can be placed under short 

tenor investment in order to earn quick 

capital gain through Repurchase 

Agreement (Repo) in the money 

market. 

Growing with your Business 

Should your business operations 

grow beyond Singapore shores, you 

can have access to your overseas 

accounts through CMS, with multilanguage 

and multi-currency support. 

Automation of Payment and 

Collection 

The benets that CMS can bring to 

a matured and growing business 

can drive efciency and productivity 

so signicantly that it is well worth 

consideration. 

Repetitive tasks such as payment to 

pre-designated suppliers, recurring 

bills and staff payroll involving tedious 

error checking, balancing and 

reconciliation, can now be handled by 

CMS to free up human resources. 

During procurement, CMS is able 

to effect payments and nancing 

that match delivery of goods against 

invoices. 

You can issue pre- and post-dated 

electronic cheques, and even enjoy 

the conveniences of total outsourcing 

of cheque issuance to the bank. 

Cheques are equipped with payment 

advice. Forwarded dated payments 

can be handled through payment 

warehousing. Monthly reports are 

available to show reconciliation of paid 

and outstanding cheques. 

Collection of electronic payments 

via a Business to Business (B2B) or 

Business to Customer (B2C) model is 

also possible. 

Trade Finance 

If your business involves trade 

activities, you might want consider 

an online trade nance solution for 

reporting and tracing the status of the 

transactions and its documents to 

increase efciency of processing trade 

nance transactions applications. 

Most CMS offer similar basic features 

with some feature variations from 

bank to bank. So it is important to 

look for one that meets your needs. E 

Maybank Singapore 

36 



PROPERTY 

PROPERTY 

Business 

Property 

Buying 


Key considerations 

before making that 

crucial decision 

Businesses which have spent years 

renting their ofce, industrial or retail 

spaces, have often dreamt that they 

would own their premises and do not 

need to face the landlords. However, 

it takes planning to achieve the dream 

to own. 

When you are buying a commercial 

property for the purpose of running 

your business, it is more than just 

the property and the affordability, it is 

about how much more business you 

may churn from the property location 

(in the case of retail shop), and the 

exit strategy (can the property be sold 

when the business is sold?). 

Here are what one should be on 

the lookout for when buying a 

business property. 

WHAT is the type of property to 

buy and what are the specications 

required? Singapore’s master plan 

reects the zoning of the properties. 

Where properties are zoned B1 

(Business 1, or light industrial), 

commercial usage is not permissible. 

Specications such as oor loading 

and ceiling height would be important 

for a warehouse requirement, 

whereas, oor trap and grease trap, 

would be important for an F&B outlet. 

WHY do you need to buy a 

business property? Is it to curb rental? 

Would this property be able to contain 

your space requirements? One 

should establish the objectives of the 

purchase, the entry and the exit. 

WHO do you assemble as your 

team of consultants? Internally, 

the team comprises of your core 

personnel, such as your accountant, 

your Production manager or your HR 

manager. Externally, it should be led by 

a real estate consultant who specialises 

in business properties. It may be easy 

to get your housing agent or any agent 

located in the sales ofce, but, they 

may lack a complete understanding 

of the B2B decision process and are 

not familiar with business properties. A 

knowledgeable real estate consultant 

not only knows the comparable sales 

prices, but brings about a team of 

bankers / loan brokers, lawyers and 

contractors. 

WHERE Like any property 

purchase, location remains the key. 

Ask the questions of the location 

relative to your customers, your staff, 

your suppliers and the branding of 

your company’s location. Branding of 

the location is often neglected. 

WHEN do you buy? No one 

can time the market to buy. Many 

business owners came to look for 

us to nd a property to purchase 6 

– 9 months before their lease expiry. 

This is often late, as most business 

properties in Singapore would have 

existing tenancies. Companies can 

either plan a year ahead to buy an 

existing property or a longer period if 

they choose to buy properties under 

construction. 

Buying a property is an important 

decision. One should not jump into it, 

but take steps to apply for in-principle 

loans, understand the market trends, 

the t of the property for the business 

needs and the payment procedures 

to set aside the purchase sum and do 

projections on the possible savings 

and income stream that the property 

purchase can bring about. 

Every business has different property 

needs and strategies as they grow. 

This is likened to a property acquisition 

life cycle. Most companies may not 

realise that business property costs, 

savings or proceeds can affect the 

P&L in a big way. E 

Edith Tay 

Director 

PropertyBank 

38 



SME CENTRE@ASME 

business owners through talks and 

seminar. 

One such talk was conducted in 

the unlikeliest of places – Changi 

General Hospital. Held on 17 

October 2013 to a crowd of 160 

participants from 130 companies, 

the session was an amalgamation 

of different representatives from 

various statutory boards and the 

SME Centre@ASME. 

SME CENTRE @ ASME 

Reaching Out to 

the Businesses 

The SME Centre@ASME continues to 

educate and engage business owners 

to raise awareness for government 

assistance schemes 

The EnterpriseOne initiative is 

a business support framework 

managed by SPRING Singapore. 

One of the main pillars of the 

initiative is the variety of government 

assistance schemes administered 

by the various government 

ministries and statutory boards, 

numbering more than 170 in total. 

These grants and schemes are 

catered to the small and medium 

enterprise (SME), but many SME 

owners have neither the time nor 

the patience to sieve through the 

volume of available grants, much 

less sitting down to complete the 

paperwork required for application. 

The SME Centre@ASME has been 

active in its outreach efforts to SME 

owners. Operating two satellite 

centres in the heartlands in addition 

to the main SME Centre, the 

Business Advisors reach out to many 

business owners, educating them 

about the grants they can capitalise 

on as well as guide them towards 

utilisation of these grants. Apart 

from meetings with businesses at 

their ofces and during events, the 

SME Centre@ASME also engages 

Within the relatively short span of 15 

minutes, the SME Centre@ASME 

explained more to participants 

what SME Centres are against the 

backdrop of key statistics regarding 

SMEs in Singapore. Diving deeper, 

the Business Advisor covered a 

number of assistance schemes and 

grants SMEs can leverage on to bring 

their businesses further. These are 

the Innovation & Capability Voucher 

(ICV) administered by SPRING 

Singapore, the iSPRINT grant 

from the Infocomms Development 

Authority of Singapore (IDA), the 

Micro Loan by SPRING Singapore 

as well as the Self-Help Toolkits 

(Productivity, Marketing, Human 

Resource, Customer Service 

and Financial Management), also 

managed by SPRING Singapore. 

After hearing from the SME Centre@ 

ASME, the participants were 

enthusiastic to give their inputs and 

views on recent policies or changes 

to existing rulings. One could feel 

their passion for their enterprises, 

and they were also very keen to 

obtain business advisory services 

from the SME Centre@ASME, 

resulting in about 50 requests for 

further engagement. Perhaps, 

such a platform – in any venue – is 

appreciated by the many business 

owners wanting to enhance 

their business capabilities and 

making a change in the business 

landscape. E 

40 



MARKET INTELLIGENCE 

network 

 


Buying Fake 

Twitter Followers 

Why it might not 

be the best idea to 

make your business 

seem more 

 

ou would probably never 

Y 

mention the Pope, Justin 

Bieber and Coca-Cola in 

the same breath, but they 

do have one thing in common – they 

all tweet. If you are someone who is 

anyone, it is quite likely that you have 

already jumped on the social media 

bandwagon. The blue bird known 

as Twitter is one of the most popular 

and prolic social media networks 

available and is frequented by users 

across the globe. 

In 2012 alone, there were 2,561,240 

users on Twitter in Singapore. That is 

almost 50 per cent of the population. 

With such a large chunk of the 

market represented on the network, 

companies can ill afford to neglect 

such a valuable avenue of customer 

interaction. 

The Internet places quite a bit of 

importance on the number of followers 

an account has. The Pope has nearly 

3 million followers, Coca-Cola has 1.6 

million followers, and Justin Bieber 

has 43 million people following his 

every tweet. Their large number of 

followers gives their Internet presence 

instant credibility. 

A signicant boost in Twitter followers 

can transform an amateur actor into 

a star, a start-up into an expert in its 

eld, and a struggling band into rising 

stars. In fact, individuals have even 

secured jobs through the strength of 

their social media presence. After all, 

the number of Twitter followers you 

have serves as a direct representation 

of just how inuential your online 

words can be. 

The Dark Side of Twitter 

And unfortunately, this is what is 

fuelling the dark side of Twitter. We 

have been actively monitoring the 

underground economy of the “Twitterverse,” 

and the fake Twitter account 

industry is booming. 

Buying Twitter followers could not 

be easier. All you have to do is nd a 

dealer, there are dozens on eBay and 

Google search, whip out your credit 

card and you will have access to as 

many fake Twitter accounts as your 

heart desires. Prices for fake validation 

have been dropping steadily. A year 

ago a thousand followers would have 

set you back $25. Nowadays the 

same would only cost you $15. 

With the ease of attaining instant 

popularity, it is no wonder that many 

are turning to Twitter dealers to quickly 

amass an enviable Twitter following. 

The selling of fake followers is almost 

42 




certainly an industry worth millions. 

We estimate that some dealers have 

several thousand buyers, who spend 

an average of $65. In fact, we found 

one dealer who may have generated 

$1.4 million from selling Twitter 

followers alone. 

Twitter is constantly battling the 

proliferation of fake accounts the 

service is seeing. New algorithms and 

software are always being developed 

to detect and remove these imposters. 

A fake follower you buy today may be 

gone tomorrow. Or will it? 

As Twitter ghts back, so too do these 

dealers. The market is getting more 

sophisticated all the time and we are 

seeing packaged solutions for all your 

fake Twitter following needs. Looking 

for a thousand followers for your 

bakery in Toa Payoh? No problem, 

dealers can localise the accounts you 

buy right down to a specic suburb. 

They even offer 5-year retention 

guarantees and will replace followers 

for free should they be deleted early. 

But, if it is so easy and even famous 

gures and brands like Mitt Romney, 

Justin Bieber and Pepsi-Cola have 

been accused of buying Twitter 

followers, why should your business 

shy away from buying itself a 

“reputation boost”? 

The Downsides of 

The Buy-In 

The boost in credibility your business 

hopes to achieve by swelling its 

followers through these services 

may just backre. When users notice 

that Twitter following is populated 

by mindless robots, your reputation 

is sure to take a beating. The public 

backlash can be so bad that you 

may even be forced to make a public 

statement, fessing up to the deed or 

denying it. But, swaying public opinion 

is not the easiest thing to do. Even 

Mitt Romney’s campaign had to issue 

a statement refuting the allegations 

that they had purchased followers, yet 

some still believe otherwise, until this 

day. 

When a company purchases bots as 

followers, they often forget that the 

same people who sell these accounts 

also sell spam. Soon you will have 

dozens of links promoting the latest 

in bust enhancement or weight loss 

techniques all over your wall. Your real 

followers will have to contend with link 

spam as well as phishing attempts 

propagated by your purchased 

friends. 

The High-road is a Long and 

Winding One 

Increasing your following without 

taking short cuts can be a long and 

arduous process, especially when 

you are starting from scratch. An easy 

way to start is making sure people 

are aware of your Twitter account 

in the rst place, by listing it in your 

name cards, your other social media 

accounts, your blog and company 

website. 

Take the time to craft engaging 

content and always be on the lookout 

for relevant content you can share with 

your readers. Do be selective though, 

if you are an IT security solutions 

provider, you would do well to avoid 

sharing your grandma’s recipe for 

chicken broth. 

Learning the ner art of hash tagging 

will make your tweets easier to nd. 

Research the words associated with 

your business and services, and use 

those “tags” so users can nd you 

with greater ease. 

Of course, no matter what you do, 

growing your mob of Twitter followers 

will take time. But in the end, the value 

of having a handful of hard-earned 

followers who are genuinely engaged 

with your business far outweighs 

thousands of soulless bots. E 

Jeff Hurmuses 

VP, APAC 

Barracuda Networks 



43



From Start-Up to Grown-Up 

Hearing and learning from peers and industry leaders allowed 

participants of the 2nd Networking for Entrepreneurship Seminar 

to obtain a little more insight into the path of entrepreneurship. 

he ames of enterprise 

T 

still burns fervently in 

Singapore. According to 

the latest 2012 National 

Report on Singapore published 

by the Global Entrepreneurship 

Monitor, Singapore’s total early-stage 

entrepreneurship ratings for 2012 was 

11.6 per cent, higher than 2011’s 6.6 

per cent and only behind the United 

States for early-stage ratings. One 

reason posited by the research body for 

such a high aspiring entrepreneurship 

rate could be the continuation of 

strong economic growth since the 

2009 recession, instilling condence 

in the populace to pursue their 

entrepreneurial dreams. That having 

been said, local entrepreneurs and 

SME owners can still use all the help 

they can get in the wake of mounting 

cost pressures and the ever-present 

specter of manpower. 

Held for the 2nd year, the 

theme of 2013’s Networking for 

Entrepreneurship Seminar was 

“Embracing the Spirit of Enterprise 

Development.” Similar to the format 

of last year’s successful seminar, the 

event consisted of a sharing session 

by industry leaders who were once 

struggling start-ups, followed by 

presentations on the various ways 

SMEs can undertake to further their 

business. 

In his welcome address to the 

150-strong crowd present at the 

Seminar on 17 September 2013, 

Mr Chan Chong Beng, President 

of the ASME, focused his speech 

on the two pillars of innovation and 

internationalisation, both crucial 

elements in any entrepreneurial 

journey. “With the national onus on 

driving up productivity, to do more 

with less, innovation is fast becoming 

a necessity to remain sustainable,” 

Mr Chan highlighted. In addition, he 

emphasised that Singapore is too 

small a market, and for companies to 

really ourish, reaching out to overseas 

markets will be their best bet. 

Participants listened intently as three 

industry leaders – Mr Chan included 

– shared on their own entrepreneurial 

journeys, bringing to vivid life true 

stories of hard work and perseverance. 

Along with Mr Chan, who is also the 

Chairman of Goodrich Global Pte Ltd, 

Mr Adrin Loi, Executive Chairman of 

Ya Kun International Pte Ltd as well 

as Dr Ng Chin Siau, Group CEO of 

Q&M Dental Group (Singapore) each 

shared with participants the journeys 

their companies took, from start-up to 

grown up. 

IE Singapore and the SME Centre@ 

ASME, supporting partners for the 

Seminar, both featured presentations 

on SME-centric programmes 

entrepreneurs can leverage on. IE 

Singapore gave a succinct session on 

overseas expansion schemes offered 

by the statutory board for SMEs, 

while the SME Centre@ASME gave 

a comprehensive discourse about 

some of the more popular grants and 

assistance schemes SMEs can make 

use of. 

Organised by the Association of 

Small and Medium Enterprises 

(ASME), the Seminar was supported 

by Maybank as the Main Sponsor, 

Microsoft as the Platinum Sponsor, 

with 361 Degree Consultancy and Far 

East Organisation onboard as Gold 

Sponsors. E 

44 





The Digital 

Embrace 

How Can SMEs 

Navigate the Digital 

Space using Technology 

he size of the Singapore 

T 

online shopping market 

reached S$1.1 billion in 

2010 and is forecasted 

to grow rapidly to hit S$4.4 billion 

in 2015, according to PayPal’s 

research. With a wireless broadband 

internet penetration rate of 166% and 

approximately 80% of the population 

connected to the internet , Singapore 

has a burgeoning market of online 

customers. Capitalizing on this digital 

growth – Singapore is entering an 

age of opportunity for small and 

medium sized businesses (SMBs) 

and entrepreneurs who embrace the 

online space. 

These large numbers of internetbased 

customers are creating a huge 

online market and necessitating the 

need for new and improved business 

models, which can then be leveraged 

by SMEs. The boom in smartphones 

– with a penetration rate of 78 per 

cent – offers yet another channel for 

consumers to access the internet, 

while the popularity of social networks 

further draws these already techsavvy 

users further into the online 

space. With consumers spending so 

much of their time in the digital space, 

SMEs should embrace the opportunity 

present there. 

From providing online brochures, 

electronic direct mailers (eDMs) 

to e-commerce ordering services, 

SMEs can complement most of their 

businesses with online services, for 

a fairly reasonable price. Utilising 

web applications or moving into the 

online retail space, they can develop 

new services, expand products 

and create deeper content, tailored 

for their increasingly internet-savvy 

users. Providing localised solutions 

to Singaporeans is also a powerful 

business model, with homegrown 

companies providing better-suited 

services to Singaporeans than 

overseas-based internet companies. 

The digital space may seem like a 

challenging place to navigate, and 

the SME marketplace has become 

increasingly competitive. To combat 

the heavy competition there exist 

tools and technology that help cut 

costs while providing better service to 

46 




customers. Gone are the days where 

businesses could rely on just ledgerbooks 

and handwritten receipts. 

In order to truly grow and maintain 

their edge in a competitive world, 

companies should utilise technology 

to streamline their workow. 

Constantly dropping costs and 

increasing innovations in technology 

mean that purchasing the right tools for 

SMEs is easier than ever. The cost of 

purchasing technological advantages 

is constantly dropping. Starting up 

a website or obtaining a laptop for 

mobile computing is more affordable 

now. Additionally, being able to keep 

your tech updated as well as investing 

in data storage and security services 

mean SMEs do not have to spend 

much to protect themselves from the 

unexpected. Here are some things 

which SMEs should look out for when 

investing in technology. 

Firstly, SMEs need to understand 

and know their staff computing 

needs from a business and end-user 

perspective, and nd the right laptop 

to suit needs and requirements. With 

the pervasiveness of the BYOD (Bring 

Your Own Device) trend - Gartner 

data shows that 25 per cent of 

end users in Singapore are already 

bringing their personal devices to 

work – this creates a need to balance 

considerations such as security and 

other company requirements with 

what staff look for in a personal device, 

such as the ‘cool’ design factor and 

the ability to stay connected roundthe-clock. 

The latest multi-mode 

laptops such as Lenovo’s ThinkPad 

Helix are designed for BYOD, with 

security and manageability features to 

satisfy company needs coupled with 

a detachable design for portability and 

a whole host of applications that help 

users stay connected while on the go. 

SMEs should also consider the 

prospect of scalability - involving the 

maximisation of computing resources 

within pre-dened infrastructure – be 

it internet connectivity, le-sharing, 

or even IT support. There are certain 

management and productivity tools 

such as Lenovo’s ThinkVantage 

Technologies, which automate some 

of the above tasks, and ultimately help 

to enhance manageability and lower 

TCO. The connectivity, collaboration 

and self-help features built into certain 

PCs help SMEs ensure that their 

computing platform remains highly 

scalable. 

At the same time, SMBs should look 

closely at the hardware that they 

purchase. Insist on reliable hardware 

features such as durable hinges, spill 

resistant keyboards and an Active 

Protection System that protects your 

PC hard disk drive from crashes and 

drops to built-in software advantages 

such as Lenovo Enhanced Experience 

8 for Windows 8 (EE 8) which allows 

faster boot time and a secure 

centralised password manager – 

these tools not only power SMEs but 

protect them as well. 

The other area that SMEs should be 

looking into is networked storage. 

The consumerisation of IT means that 

employees are probably toting more 

than one device around – be it tablet, 

laptop or smartphone. Networked 

storage allows content to be easily 

accessed across any device, which 

comes in handy for troubleshooting 

or attending to service issues. In 

addition, it enables collaborative 

work – multiple employees can be 

contributing to a single document 

stored on the network. All this 

streamlines workow processes and 

create greater efciencies. 

Whether you are an SME that wishes 

to revamp current physical retail 

methods, or an online-based start-up 

offering IT services, the advantages 

of embracing the digital space are 

endless and advantageous. When 

moving into the digital space, whether 

by starting a website, providing online 

customer care support, creating an 

online purchasing system or even 

tracking deliveries and orders via 

the web, PCs and storage become 

central to the success of the business. 

The world of SMEs is entering an era 

of PC Plus evolution – and selecting 

the right technologies to cater to your 

specic business needs, will help you 

grow your business wisely. E 

Jessie Quek 

Country General Manager 

Lenovo Singapore 



47



Attracting Talent, 

Securing Careers 

ASME Forum 2013 

Helps SMEs Tackle 

Tight Labour Market 

he tight labour market 

T 

is one of the many 

challenges faced by 

Singapore’s small and 

medium enterprises (SMEs) today. 

Helping SMEs tackle this problem, 

the Association of Small and Medium 

Enterprises (ASME) is proud to once 

again organise the rst-of-its-kind 

SME Centric event: the ASME Forum 

2013. 

In collaboration with the Institute 

of Technical Education (ITE) and 

supported by SPRING Singapore, the 

full-day event, themed ASME Forum 

2013: Talent & Career this year, is into 

its 2nd run since its pilot success in 

2012. 

Facing tough competition from Multinational 

Corporations (MNCs) and 

the Government sector combined 

with a tight crunch of local talents, 

ASME is acutely aware that SMEs 

are challenged in the continuous 

hunt for manpower. Although SMEs 

are able to provide gainful and 

meaningful employment, the younger 

demographic tends to ock towards 

the bigger companies for the apparent 

benets. As such, the ASME Forum 

was initiated exclusively for SMEs. 

“The annual ASME Forum, 

organised by the Association of 

Small and Medium Enterprises 

is unlike other career fairs,” said 

guest-of-honour Minister of State for 

Trade & Industry Mr Teo Ser Luck 

during his welcome address, “It is 

a day dedicated to showcasing 

local SMEs with good growth 

prospects and forward-looking 

HR practices and able to provide 

good and meaningful jobs for our 

emerging workforce.” 

Organised on a much larger scale 

as compared to ASME Forum 2012, 

the one-day event was lled with 

several concurrent activities: career 

exhibitions to showcase SMEs 

career paths, entrepreneurship talks, 

attractive lucky draw prizes and free 

ice cream just to name a few. The 

event drew over 2400 ITE students; 

a remarkable 300 per cent increase 

from last year. 

“This is by far the only SME 

centric platform catered specially 

 

well as recruit young talents,” said 

Mr Chan Chong Beng, President of 

the ASME. 

One of the key highlights of the event 

was the career exhibition, where 

31 SMEs from various industries 

had the opportunity to showcase 

their companies to students. As 

the enthusiastic students from the 

three ITE Colleges streamed in, the 

exhibitors were more than keen to 

share employment information and 

career opportunities offered by their 

respective companies. A sizable 

number of students were actively 

seeking job opportunities, and some 

were even interviewed there and then, 

while others indicated their interest to 

join upon their graduation. 

Concurrently, the ITE students were 

also exposed to entrepreneurship and 

the SME culture through interactive 

talks. Successful entrepreneurs 

running prosperous businesses 

such as security provider Soverus 

Pte Ltd and logistics rm Yang 

Kee Logistics Pte Ltd garnered the 

48 




attention of students by sharing the 

knowledge they had gained over 

years of experience in the industry, 

stoking the ames of enterprise 

within the students. The talks also 

raised awareness amongst students 

on local homegrown companies and 

their importance to the Singapore’s 

economy. The speakers promulgated 

the notable features of their own 

companies to the students, giving 

them a brief but detailed overview of 

what is in it for them if they join as 

an employee. This spurred interests 

among students, as many were willing 

to consider a career with SMEs and 

explore the many exciting possibilities 

SMEs have to offer. 

“Working in an SME can be 

exciting and enriching with 

exposure to young talents who 

are hungry to learn and build their 

work experience,” said Ms Chew 

Mok Lee, Assistant Chief Executive 

of SPRING Singapore. “We want 

to encourage more of our young 

local graduates from ITE and 

Polytechnics to join SMEs as their 

career option.” 

Students were also introduced to 

the SME Talent Programme (STP), a 

study award launched in June 2013 

by SPRING Singapore and managed 

by ASME. Through STP, it aims to 

attract and retain ITE and Polytechnic 

graduates to join local SMEs. 

The rst ever ASME-ITE Student 

Entrepreneurship (AISE) Award 

was also presented to the ve top 

successful students from each of the 

three ITE colleges during the Forum. 

ASME Forum 2013: Talent & Career 

created a great opportunity for SMEs 

to gather and establish local brands in 

the hearts and minds of the students. 

The ASME Forum platform has lifted 

the image of local SMEs, inspiring 

entrepreneurship, and at the same 

time, offers rewarding job opportunities 

to local talents, ultimately benetting 

both students and SMEs. 

“As a collective voice representing 

SMEs on a national platform, 

we hope to continue to build the 

ASME Forum up, so that in time 

 

help elevate the importance and 

awareness of our local home 

grown companies,” said Mr Chan 

Chong Beng. E 



49


ASME Forum 2013 Exhibitors 

50 




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Singapore moves towards an 

innovation-based economy, the onus 

on entrepreneurship and enterprise 

will continue to be poignant and 

emphasised. The younger generation 

possesses unbridled passion and 

boundless ideas for new businesses, 

all of which must be stoked and 

nurtured for them to become eventual 

successes. 

Jointly organised by the Association 

of Small and Medium Enterprises 

(ASME) and the Institute of Technical 

Education (ITE), the inaugural ASME- 

ITE Entrepreneurship Award (AISE) 

was established to kindle the ames of 

enterprise within the ITE student body. 

The objectives of the award are: 

To promote and encourage student 

entrepreneurship and recognise 

deserving students 

To elevate and uplift the image of 

SMEs to ITE students as well as to 

parents 

To demonstrate the importance of 

SMEs (start-up and growth) and create 

awareness of SMEs amongst ITE 

students 

Applicants were interviewed and 

assessed by a panel of esteemed 

judges comprised of representatives 

from both ASME and ITE. The 

successful students were presented 

with their Award trophies and study 

awards during the ASME Forum 2013 

on 23 October 2013. 

Entrepreneurs’ Digest congratulates 

all recipients of the rst AISE Award 

and wishes them all the best in their 

future endeavours! E 

 

Recipients from ITE College East 

Name 

Course 

Daryl Tan Loon Huat 

NITEC in Electronics (Broadband Technology & Services) 

Mohd Affandy 

Higher NITEC in Logistics for International Trade 

Jiyavudeen Akbar Badusha NITEC in Facility Technology 

Jackson Teo Jie Sheng 

NITEC in Service Skills (Ofce) 

Feng SenLin 

Higher NITEC in Information Technology 

Name 

Ong Xin Hui 

Liau Long Min 

Cher Li Ping (Jessica) 

Elton Ong Qi Quan 

Anuar Hassan Bin Mohd Agos 

Name 

Yong Fatt Rui 

William Tham Tat Loon 

Siew Yong Wei, Triston 

Sean Low 

Nur Atiqah Bte Jasman 

Recipients from ITE College Central 

Course 

Higher NITEC in Banking 

Higher NITEC in Accounting 

Higher NITEC in Business Administration 

NITEC in Business Studies (Administration) 

Higher NITEC in Shipping Operations & Services 

Recipients from ITE College West 

Course 

NITEC in Business Service Management 

NITEC in Business Studies (Service Management) 

Higher NITEC in Leisure and Travel Operations 

Higher NITEC in Business Studies (Service Management) 

Higher NITEC in Business Administration 



51


 

 

defining a radical 

 

 

IN THE REGION 

 

award-winning security agency 

52 

400 Orchard Road #14-06 Orchard Towers Singapore 238875 Tel: +65 6834 9500 Fax: +65 6735 8040 www.soverus.com.sg 


www.facebook.com/Soverus.Private.Limited 


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53


Doing 


Business Down Under 

Top Tips When 

Contracting 

With Australian 

Businesses 

You have built a trusted relationship 

with an Australian business and 

gone through the delicate process of 

negotiating a transaction. You now 

want to ensure that that transaction 

takes place as you intended. 

Here is how you can assist that 

happening and provide your business 

with the smoothest recourse when it 

doesn’t. 

TIP NO. 1 

Record your 

whole agreement in one 

formal document 

Contracts can be negotiated both 

verbally and in writing. Verbal and 

ad hoc discussions regarding a 

particular transaction may take place 

over a period of time and can give rise 

to contractual rights and obligations 

on you. 

This method of transacting is not 

recommended. 

For example, you are an importer of 

beverages into Singapore and have 

an idea for a new beverage called 

“Singapore Slurp”. You approach an 

Australian producer and distributor 

called “Drinks R’ Us”. You have 

preliminary discussions by telephone 

and email. 

You then meet in Sydney and verbally 

agree that the Singapore Slurp name, 

formulation, and manufacturing 

process will remain your intellectual 

property. 

Drinks R’ Us send you an email 

conrming largely what had been 

agreed. You read the email briey. 

Drinks R’ Us then exports Singapore 

Slurp to Singapore via you for some 

time, returning an increasing prot to 

you. 

Later, you discover that Drinks R’ Us 

is distributing Singapore Slurp via 

other distributors. 

You instruct Australian lawyers 

to claim against Drinks R’ Us for 

breaches of your intellectual property 

and contractual rights in an Australian 

Court. Because the email sent by 

Drinks R’ Us did not detail the agreed 

ownership of Singapore Slurp, your 

Australian lawyers can only claim that 

it was agreed verbally, and you must 

give evidence in support of this claim. 

Ultimately, you are a more convincing 

witness at the hearing and the Court 

accepts your version. Drinks R’ Us 

is ordered to pay you damages and 

your costs. 

Whilst you were successful, it 

was only after a ve day hearing in 

which the Court was taken through 

voluminous evidence prepared by 

your Australian lawyers over several 

months. You were in the witness 

box for one day, and spent money 

that could have been put towards 

your business months earlier (the of 

the legal costs paid to your solicitors 

won’t be recovered for a few more 

months yet). 

A comprehensive written agreement 

presented to the Court would have 

avoided much of this. Perhaps even 

the offending conduct to begin with. 

Less dramatically, a written contract 

assists in ensuring that your 

transactions occur smoothly as 

both parties know and understand 

their rights and obligations. This is 

particularly important where either 

your business or that of the other 

party undergoes a restructure or 

change in management. New or 

external management are more likely 

to carry on with a transaction when it 

is set out in black and white. 

54 



Tools such as the Incoterms 2010 and 

supporting ICC rules provide standard 

terms that can be incorporated 

(with amendment to reect the 

peculiarities of your transactions) into 

your contracts, making the process 

of creating a legally binding written 

contract simpler. 

It is recommended that you engage 

your lawyer to negotiate and draft 

your trade contracts whenever 

you enter into or amend a trading 

agreement. 

TIP NO. 2 

Expressly 

provide for the 

governing law 

Certainty of process and substantial 

time and costs, both in the carrying 

out of the contract and if dispute 

arises, will be saved by express 

agreement of the governing law 

of a contract. In Australia, where 

the governing law is not expressly 

provided, the Court will determine the 

governing law by reference to: 

•the place of contracting 

(difcult where the parties have 

negotiated from different places); 

•the place of performance of the 

obligations (difcult where the 

contract is performed in various 

places); 

•the place of residence or business 

of the parties (difcult where these 

places differ); 

•the nature of the subject matter; 

•the currency in which the contract 

is to be paid; 

•the origin of the goods; and 

•statute and international 

convention. 

Further cost and time might then 

follow if the decision is that the law is 

a law other than Australian law, as the 

Court would then need to hear expert 

evidence on that law in determining 

the dispute proper. 

TIP NO. 3 

Include a 

dispute resolution clause 

Many matters must be considered 

when drafting a dispute resolution 

clause, but where drafted correctly, it 

is possibly the most comprehensive 

way to provide certainty and save cost 

and time in the event of dispute. 

A written clause should set out a 

detailed process for dispute resolution 

including at least: 

•the method of dispute resolution 

(including court name where 

litigation is chosen); 


•the types of disputes that will be 

referred for resolution; 

•the place of dispute resolution; 

•the governing law of the contract; 

•any applicable rules governing 

the method; 

•where applicable, the number of 

arbitrators and how they will be 

determined; and 

•the language of the proceedings, 

This will avoid the need for negotiation 

of the above after a controversy has 

arisen and parties are perhaps hostile. 

It could also avoid proceedings being 

instituted in a forum unsuitable to you. 

In Australia, where proceedings are 

brought in a Court to which one party 

objects, that party can bring various 

preliminary applications to remove 

the proceedings to another Court 

or forum, again, adding to the cost 

and time taken to resolve the dispute 

proper, sometimes substantially so. 

The information provided in this article 

is not intended to constitute legal 

advice, and should not be relied on 

as such. Moreover, the information 

contained in this article is of a general 

nature only and should not be relied 

upon as every agreement is different. 

Leonora Roccisano 

Director and Registered 

Foreign Lawyer 

William Roberts Lawyers Pte Ltd 



55



The Balance of Work and Life 

8 rules for 

your work-life 

balance 

We have all heard about the importance of maintaining 

a healthy work-life balance, so it is incredible how few of 

us actually achieve the Holy Grail. You probably want the 

perfect job and the perfect lifestyle, but juggling priorities 

is not easy, especially when they are changing all the 

time. There are, however, several steps you can take in 

the right direction. 

1 

Just say no – We all like to be diligent and wellrespected 

but we also need to be realistic. Some 

tasks are essential and some are not. In the latter 

case, a polite refusal can lower stress and lower 

expectations. Looking over a colleague’s work before 

it is submitted is probably a favor – not a requirement. 

Likewise, dropping your neighbors’ kids off at school is a 

lovely thing to do – but less so if it is making you late for 

meetings. Do not feel guilty. Just try to be fair. 

2 

Where 

does the time go? – Managing your 

time is just as important as managing others’ 

expectations. Is the time you are dedicating to 

personal or professional tasks proportionate to 

their importance? If not, cut back. If two hours at the 

gym have little added-impact compared than one, then 

do not force it. You’re probably tiring yourself out - and 

this could adversely affect your work performance. Slice 

your life up sensibly! 

3 

– Some of us are 

bound by our working hours but, for many, 

options are increasingly open. Ask your employer 

what’s achievable for you. “Flexi” working time is 

a common way of ensuring that workers complete the 

tasks expected of them in the time expected of them – 

56 




but not necessarily within hours dictated to them. You 

may also have the opportunity to work from home if it’s 

feasible. Do not be afraid to ask! 

4 

Work 

is for the workplace – You should of 

course only work from home when you have to. 

There will inevitably be times when you need to 

respond to an issue outside of working hours. 

But just because you have a BlackBerry or work email 

access on your laptop, that does not mean you are dutybound 

to stay surgically attached to either. Remember 

the rule about managing expectations. If you constantly 

behave as though you are on call, your employer is liable 

to treat you as though you are. 

5 

You’re 

not alone – Self-sufciency is a great 

asset, but it is not always healthy. You are 

allowed to ask favors of your friends and close 

colleagues; that is what they are there for. And if 

you are a manager – delegate. It will help you and your 

team accomplish more in less time. Think of all the time 

you will free up if you just occasionally ask for help. Do 

not lean too heavily on others – but do not avoid asking 

in times of need. You can always pay them back in kind. 

6 

Family 

matters – You may believe that the 

money you earn from your employer keeps 

your family aoat – but there is more to stability 

than salary. Make time for your family and stick 

to it. Allocating hours to your nearest and dearest can 

certainly seem clinical – but there’s much more likelihood 

that you will stick to your other commitments and avoid 

letting your partner and/or children down. If you know 

that a family occasion is etched in your diary, you have a 

far better chance of working around it. 

7 

Use your holidays – Annual leave exists for a 

reason. You may think you are indispensable in 

your workplace, and far too many people forgo 

the holidays available to them out of a sense of 

duty to their employer and their team. But remember 

that your productivity is greatly increased by regular 

periods of rest – and your employer ought to encourage 

those! 

8 

Look after yourself – Yes, holidays are 

invaluable times for rest and relaxation. But your 

work-life balance will benet from strong mental 

and physical health throughout the rest of the 

year. So, stay active and stay engaged with activities 

you enjoy outside of the workplace. Also - never use 

the excuse that you have no time to cook or no time 

to eat. Make time! Your personal and your professional 

lives need nourishment. 

Eight rules may sound like a lot to adapt to. But even if 

you try to adopt one or two – you will be paving the way 

to a life of greater happiness. 

Great Eastern’s Live Great Corporate Wellness 

Programme aims to help you and your employees to 

keep in shape. To nd out how you can sign up for free, 

email limkianneng@rep-sg.greateasternlife.com E 

Source: livegreat.greasternlife.com 



57



Harnessing 

the Cloud 

 

 

he market for cloud computing is predicted to 

T 

experience robust growth in the coming years. 

Forrester Research has estimated that the global 

market size for cloud computing will rise to US$241 

billion by 2020, with public cloud constituting two-thirds of that 

market size, or US$159.3 billion. 

The Singapore market is also expected to see signicant growth in 

cloud computing, with the Singaporean government encouraging 

SMEs to move to the cloud through various initiatives including 

the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) Scheme. 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 

denes Cloud Computing as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, 

convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of 

congurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, 

storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned 

and released.” 

With the advent of cloud computing service providers, SMEs 

can take advantage of cloud computing through programmes 

like SmartCLOUD, a series of cloud computing solutions for 

innovative computing, communications and team collaboration 

tools, that include - virtual memory, storage, computing, virtual 

and physical ports, application performance optimization, backup 

and disaster recovery, video conferencing, email and other 

collaboration applications, along with detailed reporting and 

analysis tools for usage visibility and resource planning. 

58 




 

 

Lower costs 

SMEs can leverage cloud computing 

to avoid high upfront investment in 

hardware, reduce recurring costs of 

over-provisioned network bandwidth, 

decrease the turnaround time to deal 

with unexpected spikes in computing 

requirements, and manage costs as 

demand falls. 

SMEs should carefully 

evaluate and select cloud 

computing solutions 

that are not only 

cost-effective, but 

of enterpriseclass 

computing 

designed 

to provide 

them with 

resources that 

are crucial to 

their startup 

and expansion 

phases of 

business, while 

maintaining 

low Total Cost 

of Ownership. 

SMEs should also 

seek proof-of-concept 

from the service provider, 

to ensure that the proposed 

Cloud solutions are effective in 

the company's real live operations 

environment. The key lies in nding 

optimal solutions that directly address 

the limited resources of time, money, 

and focus that challenge their 

organisations daily. 

Scalability 

Cloud computing enables businesses 

to upscale or downscale their IT 

requirements in an easy and smooth 

manner. Most cloud service providers 

will allow businesses to increase their 

current resources to accommodate 

increased business needs or changes. 

This allows the business to grow 

without incurring expensive costs due 

to changes in existing IT systems. 

SMEs can make dynamic changes in 

their required IT resources according 

to changing needs, eliminating 

wastage of valuable funds and time. 

Since cloud computing services 

require no upfront fees, capital outlays 

can be converted into operational 

expenditure. Cloud computing 

provides a perfect relationship 

between user’s demand and price as 

it is perfectly elastic. Fees increase 

incrementally as users enjoy more 

utility. Cloud computing enables 

SMEs to react faster to the needs of 

their business, while driving greater 

operational efciencies. 

Singaporean government 

incentives to adopt cloud 

computing 

At a recent seminar held by 

CITIC Telecom CPC, “New Age 

Communications in the Cloud for 

Successful Collaborations”, the 

SME Centre @ SMF shared with the 

audience on the Productivity and 

Innovation Credit Scheme. The scheme 

facilitates local SMEs in adopting 

technology innovation and cloud 

computing solutions to grow 

their businesses. Under 

the current PIC scheme, 

Singaporean SMEs 

can take advantage of 

the 400 per cent tax 

rebate or 60 per cent 

cash rebate on all 

investments in cloud 

computing, every 

year up to year-ofassessment 

2015. In 

addition to the rebate, 

the Inland Revenue 

Authority of Singapore 

(IRAS) is giving an 

additional cash bonus to 

SMEs, for every dollar spent 

on qualifying activities up to a 

maximum S$15,000 for the entire 

period. 

With companies being able to benet 

from decreased expenses, ease of 

scalability and incentives from the 

Singapore government, SMEs have 

the impetus to start adopting cloud 

technology or convert more of their 

IT applications and systems onto the 

cloud for their business growth. E 

Stephen Ho 

CEO 

CITIC Telecom CPC 



59


GST Common Errors and ASK 

1. GST-registered businesses are responsible for the proper accounting of GST. Where they make errors in reporting 

the correct GST amount to IRAS, they may face penalties. You can avoid such costly penalties if you exercise 

greater care when ling your GST returns. You should also periodically review your past GST returns to uncover and 

rectify errors in a timely manner. To help you full your tax obligations, IRAS has compiled a list of common GST 

errors that businesses should seek to avoid. For example: 

i. Standard-rated supplies and output tax error: 

For trade-in transactions, this is treated as 2 separate supplies for GST purposes. You must charge GST on the 

full selling price of the goods you traded in and not on the net difference only. Your customer, if he is similarly 

GST-registered, should also charge GST on the trade-in value of his goods (e.g. old equipment). 

ii. Zero-rated supplies error: 

Not all export of goods can be zero-rated. Only goods that are exported or hand-carried out of Singapore and 

evidenced by the required documents within 60 days from the time of supply can be zero-rated. 

iii. Exempt supplies error: 

You may have declared the full or unrealised value of exchange gain or loss in your GST return. This is incorrect 

and you are only required to declare the absolute value of net realised exchange gain or loss. 

iv. Taxable purchases and input tax error: 

You may have wrongly claimed input tax on medical, insurance, car and other expenses as your input tax. Such 

expenses are actually disallowed under Regulations 26 and 27 of the GST (General) Regulations. 

For more information, please refer to www.iras.gov.sg > GST > For GST-registered businesses > Compliance matters 

for GST > If you are selected for audit > What can I do to improve my compliance > Avoid Costly GST Errors 

2. To assist businesses in managing their GST compliance, IRAS has developed a self-assessment compliance 

package known as Assisted Self-help Kit (ASK). You are strongly encouraged to adopt the free ASK package to 

review the correctness of your GST submissions and discover past GST errors early to avoid or reduce penalties. 

ASK focuses on 3 key aspects: 

i. GST Practices: comprising People, Record Keeping, Systems and Internal Controls that you can include in 

your internal processes to properly handle GST reporting of transactions; 

which is a series of questions and answers that you can go through to ensure correctness 

of GST returns before submission of your GST returns; and 

iii. ASK Annual Review: of past GST returns for early detection of errors. The Annual Review comprises a step by 

step process to discover past GST errors early for timely disclosure to IRAS, and you can enjoy zero or reduced 

penalties under IRAS’ Voluntary Disclosure Programme. 

For more information, please refer to www.iras.gov.sg > GST > For GST-registered businesse > 

GST lnitiatives to Facilitate Voluntary Compliance > GST Assisted Self-help Kit (ASK) 

 

60 



LIFESTYLE 

The taste of Italy 

Segafredo Zanetti 

Trattoria is a gem 

in the heart of the 

big city 

magine you are walking 

I 

across an Italian piazza 

paved in colourful tiles, 

taking in the sights and 

sounds of the soothing environment. 

You come across a quaint little trattoria 

– a small casual dining establishment - 

with red and black highlights dominate 

its décor, the alluring aroma of freshlybrewed 

coffee luring you in. You take 

a tentative step, but before you know 

it, the friendly de maître has already 

placed a napkin over your lap. 

Seated in this trattoria, you peruse 

through the extensive menu, a selection 

of hand-picked Italian specialties that 

sound delightful even in their literal 

forms. Slightly overwhelmed by the 

choices available, you ask for the 

trattoria’s signature dishes, and before 

long the antipasto is served. 

Zucchini Soup sprinkled with bacon 

bits rst appear on your table, the thick 

gruel hiding volumes of fresh avour 

uncovered with every mouthful. The 

bacon bits add a delightful savoury 

touch to the palatable broth, giving it an 

added crunch as well. Before you are 

done with the opening salvo, a second 

appetitser materialises on your plate. 

A whole Portobello Mushroom cap 

baked with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt 

and pepper now rests tantalisingly in 

front of you. Venturing a slice with your 

knife, you nd the mushroom surprisingly 

tender, parting with very little effort but 

holding together as you deliver it to your 

waiting mouth. The combination of olive 

oil and condiments thrill your appetite, 

leaving you hungry for the primo that 

you spy coming your way. 

The Chicken Ravioli is a culinary 

delight: tender chicken wrapped in 

handmade ravioli and drenched in a 

tangy sauce of lemongrass, butter and 

sage. The sauce permeates the subtle 

thickness of the ravioli, adding a touch 

of zest to both the meat and the pasta. 

Before you can nish the ravioli, the 

Anatra comes along. A fettuccine dish 

with duck, olive oil and garlic topped 

off with crispy prosciutto, the Anatra’s 

elements complement each other well. 

The fettuccine ripples with the taste 

of olive oil, while the duck provides a 

weighty addition to each bite. 

You lay slumped in your chair, overcome 

by the myraid avours brought on by 

the trattoria. However, the de maître 

presents to you the nal courses 

to complete your satisfying meal: a 

cocktail glass of aromatic expresso 

shaken with ice and a dash of sugar 

and a small cup of Gianduia, piedmonte 

hazelnut and French chocolate gelato 

made on-site. You thought you could 

eat no more, but every spoonful of the 

Gianduia oozes the enchanting taste 

that is at once adventurous but also 

tantalisingly familiar. Before long, the 

cup is empty and a smile adorns your 

content face. 

The best part: you can enjoy the 

authentic experience and taste of a 

trattoria without booking a ight to 

Italy. E 

Segafredo Zanetti Trattoria 

Robertson Walk Outlet 

11 Unity Street, #01-12 Robertson Walk, 

Singapore 237995 (facing the inner courtyard) 

Tel: +65 6235-4049 

Operating Hours: 

Mon - Fri: 10.00am - 10:30pm 

Sat/Sun/Public holidays: 10.00am - 10:30pm 

62 



A Whole New Way to 

“Skyve” 

A revamped menu promises 

new ways to catch a break 

at Skyve Wine Bistro 

o skive means to malinger, to 

T 

avoid work or duty by staying 

away or leaving early. At Skyve 

Wine Bistro however, skiving takes 

on a slightly different, more fun-lled meaning. 

Located in a cosy corner of Newton, Skyve 

Wine Bistro exudes an urban charm as you step 

into the 60-seater establishment composed 

of quaint little tables ringed by high-backed 

chairs. First opened in 2011, Skyve Wine 

Bistro recently revamped its menu, bringing a 

more organic take to its European cuisine with 

Asian nuances. 

A popular joint for oyster fans, the new menu 

include a selection of delectable oyster 

avours. The Chilean Oyster comprises a 

refreshing combination of serrano, lime juice, 

red wine vinegar and cilantro; the Mentaiyaki 

Oyster is served with mentaiko, crunchy 

ebiko, lemon juice and aioli, while the classic 

English Kilpatrick Oyster is topped with lardon 

of bacon, Worchestershire, and chives, 

combining avours from the land and the sea. 

The main courses are nothing to scoff at as 

well. The Polenta Mushroom Stack is a dish 

of crispy polenta cakes, mushroom fricassee, 

grilled Portobello, seasonal vegetables 

and homemade pesto, all the ingredients 

delightfully curating on the plate as they await 

your indulgence. Meat-lovers can look out for 

the Spicy Kalbi Beef Short Ribs, sous-vide 

short ribs glazed with a Korean-inspired 

marinade, sautéed brocollini, and crispy root 

vegetable ribbons. They can also go for the 

Lamb Rack grilled Dorper Lamb from South 

Australia, served with miso vegetables and 

chargrilled momotaro tomatoes. Lastly, the 

Sous-Vide Poulet, tender chicken glazed 

with an apricot-based sauce accompanied 

with candied pecans, baby vegetables, and 

pommes puree is sure to satiate the most 

ravenous of appetites. 

Skyve also features a decent selection of 

tasty desserts. The Snickers Bar, not exactly 

the Snickers Bars seen on supermarket 

shelves, is actually a sweet – no pun intended 

- stacked concoction of salted caramel 

pudding, peanut better, chocolate ganache, 

feuilletine served with ambed bananas and 

topped off with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. 

It is an interesting assortment of avours, a 

nice touch to an already satisfying meal. 

As per its name, Skyve Wine Bistro offers a 

comprehensive selection of over 70 labels 

of extremely affordable, good quality wines. 

The robust selection spans Old World and 

New World wines from countries such as 

France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Argentina, 

Chile, Australia and New Zealand, as well 

as ne wines from the region of Bordeaux, 

France. 

So if you are looking for a place to skive, 

why not Skyve? E 

Skyve Wine Bistro 

10 Winstedt Road Block E, 

#01-17 Singapore 227977 

Tel: 6225 6690 

Operating Hours: 

Daily: 10.00AM to 1.00AM

CLASSIFIEDS 

Alliance 21 

International Freight Forwarding 

Tel: +65 6546 4477 

Fax: +65 6546 4747 

www.a21.com.sg 

Serving the Small and Medium –sized 

Enterprises to develop logistics hubs in 

Singapore and Worldwide by creating a 

broad range of value added services and 

capabilities beyond the traditional freight 

forwarding activities of the 21st century. 

Building Resources Industries Pte Ltd 

Building & Construction 

Tel: +65 6862 8266 

Fax: +65 6862 8255 

www.bri.com.sg 

Building Resources Industries Pte Ltd 

(BRI) is a “one-stop supply centre” of 

all essential and specialised structural 

building materials to the local construction 

market. BRI boasts of an extensive range 

of products and services which include 

Clay Red Brick, Autoclaved Aerated 

Concrete Block, Cement Concrete Brick, 

Ordinary Portland Cement, Pre-Packed 

Drymix, Steel Welded Mesh, Deformed 

Rebar, Timber & Plywood, Sand and 

Granite. 

Crystal Jade Culinary 

Concepts Holding 

Holding 

Food and Beverage 

Tel: +65 6339 0998 

Fax: +65 6339 5593 

www.crystaljade.com 

With over 120 outlets in 19 major cities in 

Asia Pacic and the United States, offering 

exceptional food quality and excellent 

customer service in a congenial ambience. 

Eurokars Group 

Automobile 

Tel: +65 6363 3003 

Fax: +65 63633911 

www.eurokars.com.sg 

Eurokars Group of Companies is a multifranchise 

automotive dealership group 

in Singapore and represents premiums 

brands like Porsche, Rolls-Royce, MINI & 

Mazda. With more than 28 years of market 

representation, Eurokars Group is a wellestablished 

motoring entity that provides 

luxurious car ownership experiences. 

Greenpac (S) Pte Ltd 

Supply Chain and Packaging 

Tel: +65 6567 8366 

Fax: +65 6567 8636 

www.greenpac.com.sg 

A knowledge-based company, Greenpac 

helps clients re-engineer packaging 

processes by providing innovative, 

holistic solutions for more efcient and 

environmentally friendly packaging 

that achieve maximum bottom-line 

savings while minimising impact on the 

environment. 

Home-Fix DIY Pte Ltd 

Retail 

Tel: +65 6671 900 

Fax: +65 6281 2480 

www.home-x.com 

Home-Fix is the largest and most popular 

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) retailer in Singapore. It 

operates a growing network of 34 stores 

in Singapore and Malaysia.far more than 

a hardware store, Home-Fix is committed 

to providing efcient, innovative and 

affordable home improvement solutions 

for its customers 

ICM PHARMA PTE LTD 

Pharmaceutical and Related products 

Tel: +65 6296 5411 

Fax: +65 6293 4967 

www.icmpharma.com.sg 

ICM Pharma is one of the largest 

local GMP-certied Pharmaceutical 

manufacturers, and a trusted and leading 

supplier to Singapore’s hospitals, clinics 

and pharmacies. ICM’s wide range of 

Minor Ailment Remedies includes national 

brand leaders such as Growell and Lactus. 

iwa Design Pte Ltd 

Interior Design 

Tel: +65 6454 7922 

Fax: +65 64561429 

www.iwadesign.com 

Iwa Design provides professional interior 

design service, high quality interior t-out 

works including project management to 

complete turnkey solutions for retail and 

commercial industries, both locally and 

internationally. 

Jason Parquet Specialist (S) Pte Ltd 

Construction-Timber Flooring 

Tel: +65 6783 2727 

Fax: +65 6782 2727 

www.jasonparquet.com 

Established in 1987, Jason Parquet is one 

of the leading Singapore-based providers 

of timber ooring services in supply and 

installation of a comprehensive range of 

timber ooring under its ‘Tech-Wood’ 

brand. 

JEP Precision Engineering Pte Ltd 

Manufacturing 

Tel: +65 6545 4222 

Fax: +65 6545 2823 

www.jepprecision.com.sg 

JEP offers high quality precision-machined 

products for the aerospace, oil & gas, 

electronics and machine tool industries. 

Today, JEP is a leading sub-contractor for 

the aerospace industry and the Oil & Gas 

industry in this region. 

MindChamps Holdings Pte Limited 

Education 

Tel: +65 6828 2688 

Fax: +65 6828 2699 

www.mindchamps.org/www. 

mindchampspreschool.org 

MindChamps is an award-winning 

international education institute that 

conducts Learning How to Learn and 

Champion Mindset programmes for 

children from pre-school to tertiary level. 

Neo Garden Catering Pte Ltd 

Caterer 

Tel: +65 6896 7757 

Fax: +65 6515 0421 

www.neogarden.com.sg 

As the No. 1 Caterer in Singapore, Neo 

Garden Catering has devoted itself 

tirelessly to serving quality buffets to 

households and corporations since 1992. 

We believe in serving excellent restaurantquality 

food, with impeccable buffet setup 

and timely delivery, at the convenience 

of customers’ choice venues. 

64 



CLASSIFIEDS 

OKH Global Ltd 

Integrated Property Developer 

Tel: +65 6345 0544 

Fax: +65 6344 5811 

www.okh.com.sg 

OKH is a niche property developer with 

a market-oriented business model that 

comprises of property development and 

integrated construction service. Building 

on its track record and strong business 

foundation, OKH is poised to grow in Asia 

and beyond 

OM Associates 

Manufacturing 

Tel: +65 6447 6124 

Fax: +65 6348 4135 

www.om-associates.com, 

sales@om-associates.com 

Manufacturers & Traders of DRAM/Flash 

IC/Wafer, Memory modules(computer 

RAM), Flash products(Memory cards, 

SSD, USB) from Micron, Spectek, Crucial, 

Hynix, Samsung, Sandisk etc. 

Orange Clove Catering Pte Ltd 

Caterer 

Tel: +65 6515 0991 

Fax: +65 6515 1235 

www.orangeclove.com.sg 

The award-winning Orange Clove Catering 

prides itself as a trusted professional 

catering brand that inspires customers’ 

experiences. Committed to impress with 

innovative cuisines, stylish presentation 

and a personal approach to service, 

we appeal to mid to high-end clientele 

through a cross-cultural style fusing Asian 

and International dishes. 

Pan Asia Logistics Singapore Pte Ltd 

Logistics 

Tel: +65 6846 0660 

Fax: +65 6748 0660 

www.panalogs.com 

Pan Asia Logistics is constantly innovating 

to create the next generation of global 

transportation and logistics solutions for 

its clients, through its unique blend of 

German efciency and Asian commitment. 

PrimeStaff Management 

Services Pte Ltd 

Consultancy 

Tel: +65 6222 3310 

Fax: +65 6227 2310 

www.primestaff.com.sg 

PrimeStaff is an established multiple 

awards winning company specializing 

in recruitment and Human Resource 

Consulting. PrimeStaff specializes in 

executive search, permanent, contract, 

temporary stafng, HR Consulting and 

Payroll Outsourcing solutions. 

Q & M Dental Group 

Healthcare 

Tel: +65 6774 6010 

Fax: +65 6779 7307 

www.QandMDental.com.sg/www. 

facebook.com/QandMDentalGroup 

The largest private dental group in 

Singapore with more than 55 clinics islandwide 

and providing a comprehensive 

range of dental healthcare services to 

more than 450,000 patients. 

Rigel Techology 

Sanitary ware 

Tel: +65 6844 0660 

Fax: +65 6844-0112 

www.rigel.com.sg 

A one-stop supplier who can provide 

everything you need eliminates a great 

deal of unnecessary hassle. We manage 

the business fron end-to-end, all the way 

from design to manufacturing, marketing 

and supplying a complete range of green 

restroom products. 

Scanteak 

Furniture Retailer 

Tel: +65 6368 2802 

Fax: +65 6368 6752 

www.scanteak.com.sg 

Scanteak is one of the largest furniture 

retailer in Singapore that offers beautifully 

designed and timeless Scandinavian 

inspired teak furniture. Scanteak’s lifestyle 

furniture is known for redening simplicity 

and functionality. Its main philosophy is to 

inspire family moments worldwide so that 

everyone who owns its furniture- Feels at 

home. 

Star Three Sixty Group 

Retail / Wholesale 

Tel: +65 6595 1889 

Fax: +65 6846 8637 

www.starthreesixty.com 

Star360 Group is wholly owned and 

managed by Andy Chaw. The group has 

a strong focus in retail and distribution 

businesses operating 100 retail stores and 

distributing to more than 6,700 pointsof-sale. 

We are present and have ofces 

in 11 Asia countries, 5 Europe countries 

and 1 in USA. The group represents 

exclusively more than 15 brands in Asia. 

Star360 Group is considered a premier 

lifestyle leader in Asia, operating retail 

outlets in Singapore, Japan, Korea, China, 

Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, 

Philippines, Indonesia and Australia. 

Unique Gas Solution Pte Ltd 

Energy solution provider 

Tel: +65 6382 6663 

Fax: +65 6282 1070 

www.ugs.com.sg 

UGS, a leading commercial LPG solution 

provider, offers excellent customers service 

with a 24-hour hotline and promptness 

in all facets of its operations: gas piping 

design and installation, repairing faulty 

equipment and uninterrupted gas supply 

for your business continuity 

Wei Long Electronics 

Engineering Pte Ltd 

Electronics Manufacturer, Communication 

& Security Systems 

Tel: +65 6747 8853 

Fax: +65 6747 8854 

www.weilongelectronics.com 

Sales, Creation, Implementation & 

Maintenance Of Solutions For Electronics 

Parking System, Electronics Payment 

System, Electronics Payment Terminal & 

Electronics Display System For Parking & 

Display Markets. 



65

TOP 5 

It is not under 

my purview 

5 common practices we do at work 

that decreases our productivity 

As businesses become more competitive, how does your 

organisation get an edge over your competitors? If you are 

making the same mistakes as everyone, then the chances 

of performing at outstanding levels would be very low. 

The following examples are things which have become 

so ingrained in our organisational system that we do not 

even doubt for a moment that what we believe is good, is 

actually harming our organisation all this while. 

1Managers And Experts Solve Problems. 

Workers Just Work. 

This is a very common practice among companies. 

By virtue of the pay scale, it is naturally expected 

that the role of the managers and experts are to solve 

problems and anyone else should just remain in their 

cramped desks or forklifts and ‘just do their job’. Is it really 

true that problem solving should only be conned to the 

higher paid professionals? How often have you seen a 

solution proposed and accepted by management, only to 

be grudgingly performed by the workers who do not agree 

with it? 

By denying problem solving opportunities from workers, an 

organisation has deprived itself of utilising its biggest asset: 

humans! By harnessing the brainpower of everybody in 

a structured manner, problems can be solved faster, and 

cheaper! As the saying goes ‘two heads are better than 

one’. 

Of course, one of the common grouses of employers is 

that workers feel that solving problems ‘is not within their 

job scope’. Usually the problems given to solve might 

be big and requires so much effort that the worker just 

do not think it is worth his time for the pay he is getting. 

Every sh will bite, it just depends on the size of the bait. 

Incentives need not come in the form of cash. By getting 

the employee to solve small manageable problems that 

makes his own work easier to execute is a good way to 

begin the mindset change. 

2Change Has To Be Big And Make An 

Impact In As Many Areas With One 

Attempt. 

When employees are instructed to improve or 

change something at their workplace, the frequent 

misconception is to choose an idea that will have a big 

impact so that the huge result can reect their efforts. 

Well here is the truth: The bigger the change, the larger 

the risk. Such projects usually encompass a series of 

transformations that takes place simultaneously. No doubt 

change would denitely happen, but by making several 

adjustments at the same time, it is difcult to know which 

made the biggest impact, and what exactly each change 

created. 

By allowing changes to happen one at a time, you will get 

to see how each step affects the current situation. The 

result will also determine what the next move should be. 

Working in this manner will make changes easier to handle, 

and corrective actions can be taken before an unintended 

result derails the focus of the project. 

3 

We Have Periodic Improvement 

Projects. 

Many of us think of improvement as something that 

occurs periodically, like a project or a campaign. 

During such periods, we make an extra effort to improve 

or change when the need becomes urgent. The reality is 

that for every improvement project that ends, it is not able 

to sustain its results, hence there will be a need for another 

project to build on the previous results. 

66 



TOP 5 

Figure A: Common progress of improvement projects 

Improvement 

Improvement 

Project A 

Old habits 

return 

Improvement 

Project B 

Old habits 

return 

Improvement 

Project C 

Old habits 

return 

Time 

In Figure A, you will realise that there is a drop in improvement 

levels immediately after a project ends. To prevent such a 

pattern from ruining the efforts put in, standards have to 

be in place to “choke” the progress made. 

Standards refer to a new set of routines that everyone 

has to follow in order to maintain a more efcient method 

of working. By making standards visual and simple to 

understand, employees will have little trouble in shifting 

away from their old habits. The best way to counter the 

drop in progress would then be to have a system for 

continuous improvement. Such a system would be simple 

enough for anyone to raise issues and have a standard 

structure for solving them. 

4This is Not My Problem. 

How often have we heard this phrase “this is 

not my department’s job”? Our traditional model 

of operation places people into very functional 

roles. An accountant will only be concerned with getting 

the invoices right and nothing else. A purchaser’s main 

objective is to buy an item with the lowest price. This “usversus-them” 

mentality hurts the company as a whole. A 

product or a service provided by a company is made up of 

a string of departments that have to work together. 

Instead of separating people according to their functions, 

a team of employees comprising of the different expertise 

involved, can be formed based on the products that 

they produce. A cross-functional team will emerge with 

a common objective: to make the best product for the 

customers. This will link efforts across divisions and reduce 

the damages of the deadly silo mentality. 

5We will Deal With That Later. 

Problems when brought up, no matter how 

small they are, should be dealt with as soon as 

possible. There have been many cases where 

problems found at the design stage are not solved, and 

when the nal product reaches the customer, defects are 

discovered and rework has to be done. We have not even 

begun discussion about the negative effects of selling a 

low quality product to clients. Just imagine the amount 

of resources required for rework. A study by the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in America 

(Figure B) shows that it cost 100 times more to repair at 

the production stage than at the design stage. 

Figure B: A study conducted by NASA on 

the cost of rework 

120 

100 

80 

60 

40 

20 

0 

1 

To have control over such a situation, employees need 

to be able to identify abnormalities and remove them 

as soon as possible. One of the basic foundations of 

Lean Management is called 5S. 5S is a methodology in 

organising the workplace. Many often confuse this with 

general housekeeping. The fact is - it is far more than that. 

It is a very useful problem identifying tool that when used 

in the proper manner, can help detect problems before it 

becomes too big to handle! 

The ve practices mentioned here are common things that 

you or your organisation may be doing everyday without 

you knowing about their poisonous effects. It is important 

therefore to take steps to start changing the way you go 

about your daily operations. If your organisation wishes 

to rise above the competition, you need to relook at the 

processes that you have gotten so used to. It is usually 

when we are complacent that we miss out opportunities 

to improve. Hopefully after reading this article, you will be 

able to apply at least two of the suggestions and enjoy the 

fruits of your labour. E 

Nathaniel Ong 

Lean Practitioner 

Right Impact Training 

1 

6.5 

15 

100 

Requirements Design Code Test Production 



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